Letters from another life
by MWEH
Summary: Lucy Heartfilia, having what most people would want: looks, brains, wealth, a loving family and servants who adore her. But lately she s been having these strange dreams and fragments of memories, and one day she suddenly gets a letter from someone who says to have known her in another life... (Sorry, bad sum. Rating might be wrong...)
1. Who sent it?

_Disclaimer: Not owning Fairy Tail_

_**Chapter 1**_

"_Master!"_

"_He´s not breathing!"'_

Levy. Who´s not breathing?

"_He´s gone…" _

Why is Porlyusica here?

"_No! I won´t accept that!"_

"_LAXUS! Please, stop it!"_

Mirajane, why are you crying? Why are they all crying?

"_Just realize he´s gone, you idiot!"_

"_He can´t be gone!"_

Erza… Natsu…

Fragments of memories, like broken shards from a mirror flickered by.

"_Come with me for a moment."_

Erza, what´s going on?

"_Do you see how things are now? It can´t stay like this. Restore it back, Natsu, Lucy."_

"_How?"_

That was her own voice, whimpering in sorrow.

"_You can do it."_

.

.

.

.

.

Lucy opened her eyes with a gasp. She sat up and looked around her. Where was she?

She then recognized the fabric under her hands. She used to feel it all the time before… before…

Her head pounded. The room was to dark, she couldn´t see. She rubbed her eyes.

_Tears?_

Lucy flung the cover of her body and went to the window, pulling the curtain aside.

_Why does this feel wrong? Why does it feel as if this isn´t what I´m supposed to see when I look out my window?_

A picture flashed by her eyes, but she couldn´t really catch it. A canal or something.

She suddenly felt dizzy and gripped the cupboard hard, so hard her knuckles whitened. What´s going on?

Lucy shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts.

"I had a dream", she said to herself. "And there were people in the dream. People I don´t remember. They were sad. It was a sad dream. But it was a dream. And I´m home, I´m in my house, in my room that I´ve lived in since I was a child."

And Lucy left the window on slightly shaking legs, leaving the view of the Heartifilia estate grounds behind her.

"Lucy-sama, you´re up already?" ms. Spetto asked when Lucy stepped out of her room.

"Yes, I just woke up but I´m completely rested, so don´t worry."

Ms. Spetto nodded. "Breakfast is already served, your father is eating at the moment."

"And Mama?" Lucy asked concerned. "Has she eaten anything today?"

Ms. Spetto nodded, seemingly happy. "Layla-sama has been eating much better lately, and she´s been more energetic too, I think Lucy-sama has noticed that too. I have faith in her recovery."

Lucy smiled, feeling relieved. "That´s terrific, ms. Spetto! I´ve noticed it too, but I haven´t really dared to get my hopes up. But if you believe so too, then I think Mama will be fully recovered soon."

Ms. Spetto smiled. "Would you like me to make sure your breakfast is prepared when you come down?"

Lucy nodded with a smile. "Yes please, ms. Spetto. I´ll just go and check on Mama."

Ms. Spetto nodded and the two of them headed in different directions.

The Heartfilia Manor was huge, but Lucy knew the place as good as she knew the back of her hand. After all, she had been living and growing up there for all her life. So finding the room where her mother was resting wasn´t hard at all.

Usually her parents shared their bedroom, as most parents that lived together did. But a time back now, Layla had fallen sick and thus she got a room where she could rest in peace all the time. The doctors advised her to sleep as much as she could, eat regularly and keeping her windows closed, lying in bed all the day if it was possible.

But for Layla, it wasn´t possible. And she was a little rebellious, so she often went out to the garden as soon as she had energy. But not without help, of course. Lucy always helped her, or one of the servants that kept checking up on her. No matter what the doctors said, it was healthy with fresh air, Layla claimed and that was the only argument that had been able to make them let her out of her room. Layla often kept her window open as well, but not a window close to her bed and she was always under layers of cloth so she wouldn´t be cold.

As always, Layla had more light into the room than the doctors would have recommended, since her window was open. But it was the window furthest away from the bed, and there were several windows closer to the bed. In the corner of the room, the corner closest to the bed but not to close, and furthest away from all the window, was a fireplace with a little fire burning. It would probably die out in an hour, but Lucy would feed it if her mother was going to stay in her room when Lucy left later. Heavy, burgundy curtains were hanging by the windows, but only three of the curtains was pulled away from the window, letting light into the room. Other than the fireplace and the bed there was only two more pieces of furniture – one big book case and a table with two matching chairs which could easily be moved so they were next to the bed. Whenever Lucy´s father visited Layla, he sat in one of those chairs, holding her hand gently.

Lucy knew this since she once had seen him sitting like that with her mother when she was about to ask her something. But she knew that her father still sat like that, still gazed at her mother with his eyes filled with love and concern, just like they did the time she had seen him. Her father was a very kind and loving man, despite the fact that she didn´t really see him that much since he had to work a lot.

"How are you feeling today, Mama?"

Layla chuckled. "You ask me that every day, dear, and I always say the same, don´t I? I´m better than ever."

Lucy smiled and walked to her mother´s bed before she sat down on the bedside.

"You do, but I´m still a little worried."

Layla smiled sweetly, and Lucy thought as always that she was just as beautiful as always.

"I´m your mother and you´re my daughter. You´re not supposed to worry about me."

Lucy smiled back. "I know you think so."

"But you disagree?"

"No, but I think I´m allowed to worry about you, Mama."

Layla chuckled again. "Of course you are. But it´s not necessary. I´m a tough one. I won´t fall yet. I will soar like a fairy", she said and blinked.

_Soar like a fairy…_

Suddenly, a picture flashed in front of Lucy´s eyes. It was a news-paper headline: _The fairies who soared, despite all odds!_

Lucy was brought back the next moment.

"Will you help me outside, Lucy? It´s so beautiful now. I´m longing till I can gardening again."

"Of course, Mama. I´ll eat outside with you."

Ms. Spetto was waiting outside the room, as if prepared for the two women that headed out.

"Layla-sama, Lucy-sama", she bowed slightly, showing her respect to Layla.

"Ms. Spetto", Layla said and smiled at the old lady. That lady had been taking care of Layla since a long time back and Lucy had known her for as long as she could remember. "Would it be a problem if Lucy eat with me in the garden?"

"Not at all", ms. Spetto said as she smiled. She and Lucy´s gaze met and ms. Spetto nodded almost unnoticeable at Lucy´s silent request. "It´ll be out in a couple of minutes, just you wait outside."

Lucy smiled in thanks towards ms. Spetto before the small woman left and then Lucy led her mother down the stairs and out to the garden.

"Where should we sit, Mama?"

Layla was silent for a moment, looking as if she was thinking about it even though they both knew where they were supposed to go.

"How about… under the Sakura-tree?"

"That´s an excellent idea, Mama", Lucy answered and they laughed a little as they walked over to the tree.

The Sakura-tree had always been their place, for as long as Lucy could remember. Layla always took her there whenever they spent time together, whether she was teaching Lucy to read or just playing with her. There was a bench there now, that hadn´t been there back in the days, before Layla gotten sick. Close by was a fountain with a roaring lion and a mermaid who was pouring water from a vase. Layla had a long time ago explained to Lucy that it was from the constellations, the lion and the water bearer. Layla had always been interested in the constellations and told Lucy everything about them. Lucy was just as fascinated as her mother when it came to the constellations and she had read every book she could get her hands on about them. She knew just as much as her mother did, maybe even more.

Lucy lead Layla to the bench and the two of them sat down. Layla breathed in deep. "Do you feel this? The fresh air? That´s a sign that summer is coming", Layla said as she smiled, her eyes still closed.

"Lucy-sama, here´s your breakfast. Enjoy."

"Thank you so much, ms. Spetto", Lucy said smiling as ms. Spetto rolled the cart to in front of the two women.

"Oh, that looks delicious!" Layla said with a smile. She then took a piece of Lucy´s fruit and as Lucy gave her a look, her mother smiled sheepishly. "I was just going to taste."

Lucy shook her head with a smile, allowing her mother to take as much as she wanted. After all, she had requested to ms. Spetto that she would add some extra so her mother could take too.

"Ah, I almost forgot!" ms. Spetto said and dug in her pockets. She then held out a letter towards Lucy. "Here, this came for you."

"Thank you, ms. Spetto", Lucy said and the older woman nodded before she bowed and left.

"What is it?" Layla asked curios.

"A letter", Lucy teased her mother.

"I mean what kind of letter and you know it!" Layla said grumpily. "Who is it from?"

Lucy looked at the letter. _Lucy Heartfilia, Heartfilia Manor_ was all that was standing on the front. She looked at the back of the letter, but there was nothing else than a wax sigil to keep it closed.

"I don´t know."

"Then open it!"

Lucy shook her head. "Nu-uh. It´s time to eat now, I´ll read it later."

And with those words, she put the letter down next to her and ate her breakfast together with her mother in peace. After finishing her breakfast, helping getting the cart back inside and telling ms. Spetto to keep an eye on her mother since she stayed in the garden, Lucy retreated to her room. When she got up there, she remembered the letter.

"I wonder who sent it?" she mumbled to herself as she stroked her name on the letter with her finger. She then turned the envelope and used a letter-knife to cut open it open. She grabbed the letter and started to read.

"_Dear Luce_", she started with a mumbling but that was all she said. As she continued to read, she shook her head in disbelief and threw the letter down onto her desk. Such bull-shit wasn´t anything for her to read.

_Someone´s trying to be funny._

Lucy sighed and walked to her window. She opened it up and then brought her book as she sat in her stool by the windows. But she couldn´t concentrate as her gaze kept going back to the letter.

**Okay, so that´s the first chapter. Yes, these chapter´s will (I think, that´s my plan at least) be shorter than the ones I posted in Tanemon. This chapter was kind of a prequel, just to show you a bit more of Lucy´s life. And just so you know, this is no AU. It takes place in Fiore, in the world of Fairy Tail.**

**Please let me know what you think, either by reviewing or PM me, I´ll see you here when next chapter´s out!^-^**


	2. The first letter

_Lucy sighed and walked to her window. She opened it up and then brought her book as she sat in her stool by the windows. But she couldn´t concentrate as her gaze kept going back to the letter._

* * *

_Disclaimer: Not owning FT_

* * *

_**Chapter 2**_

Lucy gave an irritated sigh. If she wouldn´t finish reading that stupid letter, she wouldn´t be able to do anything else. She slammed her book closed and left it by the window as she rose and went to her desk. Once again, she picked up the letter and read it, her frown deepening as she did so.

...

_Dear Luce,_

_You don´t remember me. Or I don´t think you do._

_We don´t know each other, not in this world. Do you remember anything about what happened? Do you remember anything from our lives together? I guess you´re no mage now, because then you probably would have been by my side and I wouldn´t be writing this letter._

_Should I tell you about the life you and I lived? It haven´t happened in this world because we changed the past. But at least our mission was a success._

_You and I met in Hargeon, when I broke a charm spell that had been put on you. Unfortunately for me, the other girls around hadn´t and they got really mad at me when I didn´t want to accept that guy´s autograph, so they threw me away, I guess you could say._

_Off topic, anyway, you came after me and bought me and my friend Happy lunch. I remember that your face was priceless when you saw how much I ate. You talked to me about joining a mage´s guild, but I didn´t really pay attention to you. Sorry._

_After that we parted ways, and I hadn´t really expected to see you again. But when I went after that guy with the charm-spell since he had said to people he was me, I met you once again. I made Happy take you away from the ship so I could fight the enemies, which was stupid since I have extreme motion sickness. I don´t know how, but the ship got flushed onto land. I think you had something to do with it. And after that I beat the crap out of the guy! He would never claim to be me again._

_But after that, the magic council came with rune knights, so I grabbed your wrist and dragged you with me. You wanted me to let you go, but when I told you I was going to bring you to my guild, you changed your mind._

_I brought you there, and even though I fought with that stripper, I still paid attention to you, at least some. You were kind of frightened, but you fell in love with the guild soon. Even though you were so new, you still loved the guild just as much as anyone else._

_We did lots of crazy stuff together. I´ll never forget our first mission – I tricked you to form a team with me and Happy and you were really pissed at me when you saw that I needed a blonde for the mission, but I pointed out to you that since promises were so important to you, you couldn´t break that promise. We stole a S-class mission once, or well, me and Happy stole it, but you joined us at the mission. And then that stripper joined too… and later even Erza… that's how our next team came to be formed, with the five of us; you, me, Happy, Erza and the stripper._

_Do you remember anything from the games? They games don´t exist in this world, though. But I´ll start something like that someday. And then, maybe you´ll see me again._

_I´m not the only friend you had here, but I´m the only one who remember you. Maybe because I was with you when it happened._

_I´ll send more letters to your family estate. I have no idea where you are now, but if I knew, I would go after you. But I think you´ll return there one day._

_Good-bye, Lucy. I wish you the best for now._

_ ..._

Lucy put the letter down onto her desk. Someone was joking with her. But… who would possibly come up with something like this? And who would do this to her?

But come on,

Lucy Heartfilia in a mages guild? She wasn´t a mage and she didn´t know anyone who was that either.

_I´ll send more letters to your family estate._

Were more letters coming? And wasn´t there any way for her to trace the letters so she could get whoever that idiot who did this to stop, since it wasn´t funny and only wasting paper and their time.

Lucy shook her head. She needed to clear her head and to relax.

"I need a bath", she mumbled to herself and left her room to ask ms. Spetto for help with the bath tub.

As Lucy sat in her big bathtub, just relaxing and breathing in the hot steam, she felt herself calming down. She had been a bit upset over the letter, something she couldn´t quite explain, but a bath was always good for her nerves. Lucy opened her closed eyes and saw some kind of shape in the steam.

"Plue?" she said and surprised herself as she did so.

But the steam went away and she saw that it hadn´t been anything other than steam. Feeling uneasy about it, Lucy realized that the relaxing effect seemed to be gone and thus she stepped out of the bathtub.

_Plue…what is a "plue"?_

Lucy shook her head as she dried herself and put on her clothes again. She wondered how she was going to spend her day. She had no classes since it was weekend, but she didn´t really feel to read. She remembered the letter she got.

_Hargeon, huh? I never even been there, how could anybody come up with us meeting there? Is it even a town?_

Lucy decided to check it up. It probably was, because nobody would make such a mistake, even if they were joking. They would want to make it as believable as possible. Not that she believed any of it! It was ridiculous.

As Lucy had believed, it was indeed a town. It was a port town and it wasn´t very far from Lucy´s home actually. She could probably go there by train in an hour or something. Okay, more than an hour, but it wouldn´t take very long.

_Maybe I should go there?_

Lucy closed the book she had in her lap, the book where she had found information of Hargeon and rose. She should question her father about it, she wouldn´t want to trouble her mother about it. If her father wasn´t too busy of course. She looked at her clock. It was about lunchtime now and he always took a short break to eat by then. If she went to the dining area right now, she would be able to catch him.

"Papa!" Lucy just managed to arrive in time, since he just rose from his seat and was about to leave.

"Ah, Lucy! How are you? Have you been sleeping well? I missed you at the breakfast."

"Good day Papa", Lucy said as she went to him and hugged him. "I´m fine, I´ve slept well and I´m sorry about this morning but I ate with Mama", she let go of him so they could watch each other as she spoke. "Would it be okay if I went to Hargeon over the day?"

Her father´s eyebrows shot up higher than she´d ever seen them. "Hargeon? Why eould you want to go there?" he father asked her surprised.

"I would like to see the city, I read that it´s one of Fiore´s oldest and most beautiful cities. And I rarely leave or home, I think it would be a good experience."

Her father smiled. "That´s my daughter, always coming with good reasons to convince me. Alright, but will you bring someone with you? Bring ms. Spetto, I wouldn´t want you to be alone in a city."

Lucy nodded, a big smile on her lips. "I will, thank you so much Papa!"

She hugged him again and then left to find ms. Spetto.

"Be back in time for dinner! And change clothes, I don´t want anyone to recognize you!"

"Yes Papa!" she replied over her shoulder as she left to find ms. Spetto.

Ms. Spetto and Lucy left half an hour later when Lucy had changed into some clothes that stood put less. She had no idea where ms. Spetto had found them, however, but right now she was wearing a skirt that was a bit too short for her to feel comfortable with it, a shirt that was a bit too reveling for her taste and a pair of high heeled, knee-high boots. Her hair was down instead of up as she usually wore it, but she had a little pony-tail at the side of her head that matched her shirt.

"You look very normal", ms. Spetto said to Lucy, which made Lucy laugh.

"Thank you ms. Spetto. Now, how will we get to Hargeon?"

"By train, but we´ll take a carriage to the train station first."

Lucy nodded. "Alright."

As they went to the carriage, Lucy suddenly remembered something. "Ms. Spetto, if more letters from unknown people come to me, can you please just place it in my room? I don´t want Mama to find out about them."

Ms. Spetto looked concerned. "Of course, but may I ask why, Lucy-sama? Are you in trouble of any kind?"

Lucy shook her head. "It´s nothing like that. I believe it´s some kind of joke."

"Then would you want me to throw away the letters?"

Lucy considered it for a moment but then shook her head. "No, I want to figure out who´s behind them."

Ms. Spetto nodded. "Okay, Lucy-sama, as you wish. But let me know if you change your mind."

"Of course", Lucy smiled and then they stepped into the carriage.

As they rode with the carriage, Lucy was looking out the window the whole time, taking everything in. It wasn´t her first time riding one, and neither was it her first time leaving their grounds. But since she did it so rarely, she looked at how much had changed.

_That tree was just a sprout… there was no house there… oh, the children there have grown a lot!_

Lucy couldn´t hold back a small sigh as she saw it all. She couldn´t help but to feel a bit dejected as they travelled. Sometimes she wished she didn´t live so closed in. She got to see so little and she never really got to play as a child when she grew up. It wasn´t like she disliked her life. But sometimes it was a bit lonely.

_Hey Luce, want to play tag?_

Lucy blinked surprised as she heard a male say this. She looked around in the carriage, but she was alone in there with ms. Spetto who had fallen asleep.

_What was that just now?_

She shook her head and turned her gaze out the window.

"_Luuuuuuusssssssssssshhhhiiiiii! Come and play with us!"_

"_Alright, I´m coming!"_

"_Lucy, Happy just went missing!"_

"_What?! But he was here a moment ago!"_

"_Yes, well were playing hide and seek, so count and then find me."_

"_I´ll never be able to find you."_

"_Just follow my scent."_

"_I´m not an animal, Natsu!"_

Lucy woke up with a jerk and looked out the window. They were at the train-station now. But she didn´t feel as excited anymore. She just felt very lonely and empty, like something was missing.

"Ms. Spetto", Lucy said gently and shook the woman carefully. "We´re here."

* * *

**Alright, that´s all for chapter 2. Hope you liked it. I know Natsu´s letter is a little OOC, but something´s happened as you probably understood and things are different now. He might be a bit smarter now… or maybe he just put a lot of effort into the letter. And sorry if it´s not very interesting, but I think the next lett- I mean chapter will be...**

**Let me know what you think, and I hope I´ll see you guys soon again:)**


	3. Hargeon

_Lucy woke up with a jerk and looked out the window. They were at the train-station now. But she didn´t feel as excited anymore. She just felt very lonely and empty, like something was missing._

"_Ms. Spetto", Lucy said gently and shook the woman carefully. "We´re here."_

_Disclaimer: not owning FT, but the storyline is all mine ;)_

_**Ch**__apter 3_

During the whole train-ride, Lucy had been looking out the window in fascination, or around the insides of the train – also that in fascination. She couldn´t remember the last time she rode the train, but she knew she had done it at least once before – when she was newly born. Her mother and father hadn´t been at the manor when Layla had Lucy and they had rode the train back the following day.

Ms. Spetto kept quiet throughout the ride, letting Lucy take it all in. At first, the elderly woman read a book, but after awhile, she fell asleep. But that was something Lucy barely noticed. She got this nostalgic feeling from riding the train, which was one of the reasons she was certain she had done it before.

"_Hang in there, Natsu!"_

"_Fufufu, he´s gonna throw up, Lucy."_

"_He´s not, be quiet Happy. You´ll only make it worse!"_

"_Never… again... we´ll walk… back…"_

"_Stop talking Natsu, you´ll only make it worse."_

"_I´m so sorry, Natsu-san! I´m a failure as a mage…"_

"_No, no, calm down. It´s not your fault! You warned him about becoming immune to it."_

"_But… but…!"_

"_Sch, don´t worry about it."_

"_It´s… okay, Wendy… don´t worry."_

Lucy was brought back to her own head when the train made a stop.

"Are we here?" ms. Spetto asked Lucy with groggy eyes.

Lucy looked out the window and saw the ocean. "We have to be! Come on, ms. Spetto!"

"I´m coming, Lucy-sama, I´m coming. Remember my age."

"Sorry, ms. Spetto", Lucy gave a sheepish smile. "I just want to get a better look at the ocean!"

When they got off the train, Lucy looked up and stopped dead in her steps as she gasped.

"It´s so beautiful", she whispered.

"The ocean truly is a sight you won´t forget soon", ms. Spetto agreed.

"Well, that too", Lucy said. "But look at the town. And with the ocean in the background… it´s like something from a fairy tale."

Ms. Spetto smiled. "I won´t disagree on that."

Lucy stood there and took in the sight of the mostly white houses, the harbor and the ocean, all complementing each other – the ocean looking more blue, the houses more white and the harbor more lively against the calm water – when her stomach suddenly rumbled.

"I guess we better find somewhere to eat", ms. Spetto said. "You haven´t eaten lunch yet, have you, Lucy-sama?"

Lucy shook her head and they set down the street. They walked in silence, looking for a restaurant, when Lucy felt herself bump into something and stumble a bit backwards.

"Kya!"

Lucy looked down to the source of the sound and suddenly got a flashback.

"_They´re only going to give us one mage to help out on this dangerous mission?" a male said shocked._

"_W-wait… what kind of dangerous person is coming?!" I asked in horror, but before anyone could answer me, a small scream turned our attention to the door._

_Sprawled on the ground lay a blue haired girl._

"Ouch…" the small blue haired girl that bumped into slowly got up from the ground.

"Wendy! Are you okay?" a voice asked concerned and a white cat _walked on two legs_ to the girl.

"I´m fine, Carla."

Lucy decided to ignore that the cat just talked and instead apologize to the girl. "I´m so sorry! Are you okay? I´m so clumsy." Lucy bowed.

"No, the fault is entirely mine, miss", the blue haired girl answered and bowed as well, causing the two of them to crash their heads together.

"Ouch…"

Lucy looked at the girl as she rubbed her forehead and noticed that she was doing the same thing. As their eyes met, both girls started to laugh.

"I´m Lucy, and this is ms. Spetto."

"I´m Wendy Marvell and this is Carla."

"Nice to meet you", Lucy said and shook hands with both of them. "Do you know anywhere good to eat?" Lucy figured out they might as well could ask.

Wendy nodded. "Me and Carla just came from there. I´ll show you the way, come with me."

They followed the girl and her cat, making small talk as they went. Lucy still admired the town, and to her, it really made sense that it was one of the oldest towns in Fiore. It was a town that looked like as if it had seen much.

"Here it is", Wendy said with a smile and stopped.

"Restaurant?" Lucy asked and Wendy nodded. "Why is it named like this? Is it the only restaurant in town?"

Wendy shook her head. "No, I know of one more – 8island."

_8-island… that sounds familiar…_

The colors orange and white flashed before her eyes at the mention of the name.

"Thank you, little miss", ms. Spetto said to Wendy.

"No problem", Wendy smiled back. "Bye, Lucy-san, ms. Spetto. Nice meeting you."

Wendy waved over her shoulder as she and Carla left.

"Bye, Wendy-san. Thanks for the help!" Lucy called out to them as they left. "Shall we?" she asked ms. Spetto and the slightly odd couple went in together.

When they were waiting for the food, Lucy let her eyes wander around in the restaurant, checking the place out. She got this familiar and warm feeling from being there, but she couldn´t quite put her finger on what it was that made her feel that way.

"_When I heard it was a fire-breathing dragon, I was sure it was going to be Igneel."_

"_A fire-breathing dragon? What kind of human is that…?"_

"_Igneel´s not human, he´s a real dragon."_

"_Aye! He´s a real dragon!"_

"_THERE´S NO WAY SOMETHING LIKE THAT WOULD BE IN THIS TOWN!"_

"Hm? Did you say something, ms. Spetto?" Lucy asked after looking around the empty restaurant to find the source of the voice.

However, ms. Spetto simply shook her head before she looked down into the menu again.

_How strange…_

When the food came, the two ate in comfortable silence mixed with easy small-talk. And when they were finished, they paid and left. Lucy just stopped for a moment to thank the waitress for the good food, when she thought she saw something on the floor, by their table. But as she turned around, the sight was gone.

_I´m sure I saw something pink and blue… it looked like someone was bowing just there._

Still thinking about it, Lucy caught up to ms. Spetto.

"Lucy-sama, I think we have to return now. We won´t make it in time if we don´t."

Lucy nodded. "Back till dinner…"

The train ride home went in peace. But the peacefulness gave Lucy a lot of time to think about what had happened during the day and in the restaurant.

First, it had been that conversation. And then the bowing figures on the ground. Dragons landing in cities… that´s crazy. How could anyone believe that would happen?

But… what did she know about dragons anyway? She knew extremely little of magic and magical creatures wasn´t exactly something she knew about either.

_You and I met in Hargeon._

Those words together with the strange things that happened was all she thought about for the rest of the day.

_You and I met in Hargeon._

**There you go! Chapter 3. Sorry there´s no new letter, but you´ll have to wait a little more for that. However, I hope this was still good enough. Wow. I can´t believe I finished this so quickly (don´t misunderstand, I don´t mean it was a quick update, but I wrote almost the whole chapter at once). I´m sorry if it´s a little bad, but like I´ve just said – I wrote this very quickly. I can´t say I´m very content with it, but… and sorry that it´s short, or, well, **_**shorter**_**. My other chapters haven´t been very long, but this is the shortest so far. And hopefully the shortest I will post.**

**And if anyone wondered, I had to re-watch those moments where I used flashbacks, but I really wanted to get it right.**

**Would love to hear what you think, so leave me a review, will ya? ;)**

**Oh well, hope I´ll see you soon!^-^**


	4. This joke has gone too far!

_Those words together with the strange things that happened was all she thought about for the rest of the day._

You and I met in Hargeon.

* * *

_Disclaimer: Only the plot is mine, the characters and all that belongs to Hiro Mashima._

_**Chapter 4:**_

"_1000 jewel, is my sex appeal only worth that much?! Tightwad! Annoying! Anyhow, the evaluation was too realistic…"_

"_A really famous mage is here!"_

"_It´s Salamander-sama!"_

Fragments, pictures, flashed by.

"_Igneel!" _shocked silence and then his disappointed voice._ "Who are you?"_

"_If I am Salamander, you know of me, correct?" … "He left?"_

"_Hey, you´re being rude!"_

Poor Natsu… hehe…

"_He was really sickening, right? I appreciate your help."_

Lucy opened her eyes. She felt groggy and rubbed her eyes. Somehow, in her mind, she had expected to see Hargeon again and that restaurant she had been eating at with… with… ms. Spetto? Yes, that´s right. The two of them had been there yesterday, but she hadn´t expected to see her in front of herself. She had expected someone… a male… with pink hair?

Lucy groaned in frustration. Why couldn´t she remember?!

A knock was heard on her door.

"Lucy-sama?"

"Yes?"

"Can I come in?"

"Of, course, ms. Spetto", Lucy answered and sat up as she stretched her arms over her head.

"Good day, Lucy-sama", ms. Spetto came into the room, carrying a tray.

"Good morn- isn´t it still morning?!"

Ms. Spetto shook her head as she came to a stop by Lucy´s bed. "Lucy-sama must have been exhausted. It´s already lunch-time, so I figured you´d be hungry when you woke up."

At that moment, Lucy´s stomach growled and she felt a sharp pain there, telling her that she needed to eat. She was so happy ms. Spetto had brought her food!

"Thank you, ms. Spetto! You´re always right."

Ms. Spetto smiled and put the tray on the bed next to Lucy after the girl had moved so there was space for it.

"Huh? What´s this?" Lucy asked as she saw a piece of paper on the tray.

"You asked me to bring more of those letters to you if you got any", ms. Spetto answered over her shoulder as she left.

Lucy nodded absent, already forgetting her hunger as she sat with the letter in hand.

…

_Yo, Lucy,_

_Here I am again. I decided to drop that "dear"-thing – it wasn´t just for me._

_Remember what I said in the previous letter? That I wasn´t your only friend here? I´m going to tell you about how your best friend´s doing._

_Do you remember Levy McGarden? Short girl with blue hair, likes to read a lot? She was the only one who was allowed to read your novels. That stripper did it too, but you got really pissed when you found out._

_Anyways, Levy´s fine. Things are pretty much the same with her. Reading a lot and mostly keeping to herself. Hey, you got any good book? Levy has been complaining lately to not having anything to read. If you write in this life too, maybe you could send something for her to read? Then it won´t be anything she already have read._

_Jet and Droy follow her like lost puppies as usual. But none of them are ever going to get her love. Even though that metal-scrap face never joined the guild since you never did and we never fought with Phantom, I don´t think she´ll ever see anyone but him that way. I´m sure you noticed it too, how she felt. I might be stupid most of the time, but there are some things not even I miss, like that. It´s sad, but that´s just how fate is. I wonder if they´ll be able to meet in another way in this life. But then Gajeel wouldn´t stand a chance since he´s an idiotic, metal eating ass. And Levy probably wants someone like in the books she reads, not a pierced bastard like him._

_Juvia never met that stripper either, so she hasn´t joined the guild. I´ve kind of been checking out her and that bastard however, and they´re fine. As fine as they could be, I guess. They are like they were before they joined our guild, meaning I doubt that any of them are especially happy._

_It´s sad, isn´t it? That we can go our whole lives missing something we won´t really know why we´re missing or even what we are missing…_

_That sure got depressing. I´m sorry for that. So that´s why I sent this sticker with the letter, to cheer you up._

_Bye for now, Luce. You´ll hear from me soon again._

…

_Levy-chan…_

Lucy turned the envelope upside down and out fell a little sticker, just as the letter had said it would. She turned to look at it and stared in surprise.

"A fish?"

How was that supposed to cheer her up? But as she stared at the sticker, she felt a laugh bubble up inside her. The idea was so childish, yet so sweet, that it actually did its purpose.

A stabbing pain in her stomach reminded her that she hadn´t eaten, and she dug in on her food. The letter was occupying her thoughts through the whole breakfast.

_Levy-chan… Juvia and Gajeel …_

The names were so familiar it scared her, because she didn´t know anyone named like that. But she still felt like she knew them too.

_Go through our whole lives not know why we´re missing…_

That had truly hit its spot.

_Not even realizing what we´re missing._

That had been just how she felt lately. But how could this mysterious joking person know she felt like that?

"I´m so confused!" she moaned and lay down, closing her eyes.

This joke had just gone too far!

Lucy stayed in bed all day. She didn´t feel well and ms. Spetto was worriedly checking on her all the time, both because of the concerned Layla and herself.

Lucy fell asleep and woke up all day, feeling feverish and having weird dreams. Dreams about time-travelling, giants turning into midgets, fire and darkness. Always fire, always darkness. But the fire was a kind, warming fire. When she dreamt about the fire, she felt better. But the fire never stayed long enough and other horrible dreams about death and blood took its place.

"_It can´t stay like this. Restore it back, Natsu, Lucy."_

"_But how, Erza?" I whimpered._

"_You can do it. You two have to travel in time."_

"_Are you coming with us, Erza?"_

"_No, Natsu. I have to stay behind and take care of the guild members. Gildarts and Laxus can´t do it on their own."_

_Lucy nodded, with tears in her eyes. "Let´s do it, Natsu. We´ll get him back."_

_Natsu nodded, dead serious. "We´ll get gramps back Erza, don´t worry. We won´t fail."_

_Erza smiled kindly, but Lucy didn´t miss the tear in her eye. "I know."_

"Lucy-sama", ms. Spetto called from outside her room as she knocked onto the door.

Lucy felt her heavy eye-lids slowly open.

"Ms. Spetto?"

"You´re awake", ms. Spetto said the second she opened the door and the old woman wasted no time going to the sick girl to feel her forehead. "Your fever has gone down a bit, I´m glad to see this."

Lucy nodded, feeling a bit confused.

"Lucy-sama, there is a new one."

* * *

**Okay, would you believe me if I said I wrote this chapter **_**and **_**the previous one in the same "writing time/ period" (- best thing I can call it). I barely believe it myself. Oh well, I did anyways. I´m not sure if this is especially good, but would still love to hear what you think :)**

**And sorry you had to wait for it since I finished them in the same day, but I need to read my chapters through before I post them and I also felt that you guys had to wait a couple of days, for my sake too since then I won´t have to stress about updating the next chapter. I hope you can forgive me.**

**Anybody who can guess what has happened in "the other life"? Leave me a review, I would love to see if anyone can figure it out. Maybe I´ll see you as soon as I did this time?**

**Until next chapter – take care!**


	5. The team

_Lucy nodded, feeling a bit confused._

"_Lucy-sama, there is a new one."_

* * *

_Disclaimer: the awesome Fairy Tail doesn´t belong to me, I can´t even paint anyways._

_**Chapter 5**_

"A new letter?" Lucy asked as she finally understood what ms. Spetto had said.

Ms. Spetto nodded and Lucy sat up so she could read it. But as soon as she did, her head started spinning and throbbing painfully. She put a hand to her head, trying to press the pain in and then fell back against the cushions, squeezing her eyes shut tightly.

"Lucy-sama, are you alright? I´ll call the doctor!"

"No, don´t ms. Spetto. No need for that, please. I just need to rest some more, I believe."

Ms. Spetto had her forehead frowned deep in worry and didn´t seem convinced by Lucy´s words. But eventually, she nodded. "Alright. But if you change your mind, I´ll make sure to send after him right away."

Lucy nodded slowly, holding back a face as she felt how her head protested against her movement.

"Sleep some more please, Lucy-sama. You need to recover as soon as possible."

"Yes, ms. Spetto", Lucy said and smiled at the old woman before she left. "As soon as I´ve read the letter", Lucy muttered to herself and looked beside her in the bed.

_Where is it?_

Lucy looked around in the bed and she even carefully leaned out and checked beside it, on the floor. The letter however, was nowhere to find. Lucy sighed and puffed up her cheeks in annoyance.

"Fine, I´ll read it later and sleep some first."

She closed her eyes and waited to fall asleep. But after turning and turning again, Lucy realized she wouldn´t be able to find a comfortable position until she had read the letter. So Lucy opened her eyes and tried to locate the all white envelope with her name on it. And after a couple of minutes, she succeeded to find it in the badly up-lit room.

It lay on the table by the fireplace, several meters from her bed.

_Ms. Spetto must have put it there when she left the room. How am I supposed to read the stupid letter now?!_

Lucy sighed in irritation and thought about trying to sleep again. But she knew she would get the same result as earlier if she tried, so she slowly flung her covers of her body, sat up and put her feet on the floor. Or well, she had intended to do so. It didn´t work out as she had planned, and she ended up lying on her bed again with her whole body on it. Lucy clenched her fists in determination and flung her feet over the side of the bed side. It hurt real bad, but she was going to read the letter!

After the pain had subdued a bit, Lucy let her body follow her legs and she fell down with a low thud on the floor, but the fall hadn´t hurt at all since she already had had her feet on the floor. And it didn´t hurt because everything else hurt so bad. Realizing she wouldn´t be able to wait for the pain to disappear every time she tried to move, Lucy slowly and painfully crawled over the floor to the table. When there, she collapsed and rested for awhile before she slowly sat up on her knees and grabbed the letter. Knowing she wouldn´t be able to move back to the bed for awhile, she rested slumped against the heavy table as she opened the letter to read it.

**…**

_Hey Lucy, long time since the last letter, huh? I´m sorry it took so long, but I didn´t want to make it depressing like the last one._

**…**

Long time? There had only been a couple of days. Right…? Or had it been longer? How long had she been sick?

**…**

_I told you about us being a team before, didn´t I? I thought I tell you about our other team-mates in this letter._

_First off is Erza Scarlet. Looks a bit like you but taller and with scarlet red hair, brown eyes, always clad in armor, eats a lot of strawberry cake and is really scary. Sounds familiar? I only called her scary so you would get who I´m talking about, I´m not afraid of her at all! I´m not! I fight her all the time! I´m not winning but...  
Erza is pretty much the same I guess, scaring all members to behave and eating her strawberry cakes, like she always has. Beats anyone who destroys her cake... But there is more sadness in her eyes nowadays. Back at the Tower of Heaven, when you were with us there, only one of Erza´s comrades died. But this time… two more did as well. Only the cat-girl, Milliana, survived. And Jellal went missing for a long time. They re-united however, and she forgave him just like last time. But both of them have a hard time dealing with the death of their friends…  
But not all is bad with them! They are actually engaged now, so I know they´ll manage to get through it all. Jellal is a part of our guild nowadays too. For some reason, the Magic Council never got their hands on him to arrest him. There´s also been this second scent to Erza´s now, so I think that she´s going to have a child. I know she´ll be happy in the future._

_The other member in our team was the stripper, if we don´t count Happy, one of the first members except you and me. I guess I´ll have to say Gray instead of the stripper, or else you might not get who I´m talking about. But there is a reason for why I call him that… too bad our mission didn´t take away his habit of stripping.  
Gray´s pretty much himself too, stripping, fighting, being an idiot and a complete ass – the usual. But I´ll be honest with you. Since things are different in this life, I´ve noticed Gray are too. He´s much more filled up with his past, with the sadness, guilt and hatred he has inside him. He never really met anyone who could help ease that sorrow either, not like he did when you were here. He and Lyon had a run in, but they haven´t met again and his burden didn´t really ease after that meeting.  
I think he needs Juvia. It might seem strange for you to hear that and I can´t really explain it either. But it´s like… I think he needs someone who will worry and care for him, and only him. And he needs the love only someone like Juvia could give him. Juvia needs him too. I heard her say it once, that Gray took her out of the rain and showed her the sun. I hope they´ll meet even though we probably won´t fight with Phantom…_

_Shit, it got depressing again. I´m sorry about that. I tried, I really did. I guess no sticker can cheer you up this time? How about turning this letter around then? I asked Reedus for a favor._

_Bye for now Lucy._

**…**

Lucy did as the letter asked of her and turned it around. She then gasped in surprise. For there, on the back of the letter was a sketch that couldn´t be anyone else but her.

She was smiling brightly in the drawing, and some of her hair was bound up on one side with a bow. The shade of her hair, her skin, her eyes… it was all perfect. Lucy was shocked as she stared at the drawing of her. It was so accurate that you could believe she had been modeling for it.

A smile crept its way onto her face as she watched it. Whoever it was who sent her the letters sure had put a lot of effort into making this drawing look like her, which really touched her  
Lucy was looking at the picture for a long time and soon the letter´s content made its way into her mind. She was thinking about the stripping Gray and the fearful, cake-loving Erza. She could almost see them in front of her, despite how little information about their appearance she actually had received, especially about Gray. She thought about Erza and Jellal maybe having a baby and about Gray maybe meeting this Juvia-person. She hoped the two of them would meet, because if the person behind the letters were right, they needed each other.

Her eyes snapped open.

_Since when am I thinking of them as actual, existing people?_

But then she thought about it a little more. There was a chance these people did exist and weren´t made up, but just brought into the context.

She yawned. She was too tired to have so much conspiring theories and fell asleep leaning against the table.

"_Why does that monster Erza need our help?"_

"_How would I know? Besides, if she does need ´help´, I alone would be sufficient."_

_Two males, one raven haired and one rose (pink) haired stood arguing._

"_Then why don´t you go by yourself!? I don´t want to go!"_

"_Fine, then don´t come! Get yourself killed by Erza afterwards!"_

_Their oral-fight was now turning into one using fists and that was why the blonde girl close by who knew the two all too well at the moment, decided to barge in, screaming at them._

"_You two are causing trouble, so just shut up!" she had her best disapproving-face on as she continued. "Geez, why can´t you get along with each other?"_

_The two males gave her a strange look and then the pink- I mean rose – haired spoke up. "Why are you here anyway?"_

"_Mira-san asked me too!" she remembered what Mirajane had told her before she continued. "I´m only coming along because Mira-san asked me too."_

"_But you really wanted to come along, didn´t you?" the blue cat on the ground asked her._

"_No way!" Lucy suddenly saw a chance to get back at the cat and put her hand over her mouth, looking as if she just realized something and felt sorry for the cat. Or well, she tried to look like that, but it was obvious she said it to be mean to the cat. "Wait, if those three need someone as a mediator, why not you? Uwah, pity on you! Looks like Mira-san forgot about your existence."_

"_Aye!" the cat simply answered, not taking any offence to her statement, or maybe he simply didn´t understand that she was saying something pretty mean to him. And when the two had talked, the other two had started bickering again._

"_Why do you always carry around your sleeping bag?"_

"_To sleep on it, duh!"_

_Lucy sighed. "This is becoming troublesome…"_

_Lucy smacked her hands together, coming up with an idea and then turned away from the boys, looking as if she spotted someone further away._

"_Ah, Erza-san, this way!" she called out._

_And as if in magic, the two young men now had their arms around each other´s shoulders and so big smiles on their faces that it looked unnatural._

"_Let´s be nice to each other!" the raven haired male called out._

"_Aye, aye sir!"_

_This sight made Lucy bend over, laughing hard. "This is so funny!"_

"_You tricked us!" the two called out in shock, staring at her with mouths agape and eyes wide open._

"_Maybe the two of you get along after all", Lucy giggled._

_After this, the raven haired male turned away, looking depressed and saying something about having stomach-ache to which the blue cat offered him some fish, which he refused. At the same time, the pink haired male turned to Lucy and asked why she was there, which made her drop her yaw and scream in shock to him._

"_WEREN´T YOU LISTENING AT ALL!?"_

_Before he had any chance to answer, something else took their attention away – a scarlet haired woman with a whole carriage loaded to the limit with luggage, rolling after her._

_TOO MUCH LUGGAGE!_

* * *

**This must be the longest chapter so far. It´s all because of the dream. I wrote exactly what they said in the manga at this scene (I´m pretty sure there are some different versions with different translations, so if it doesn´t sound familiar to you, you can always check out chapter 11 yourselves).**

**A short answer to my guest reviewer who can´t get a PM with the answer: **_"Thank you for your kind words ^-^ and I´m flattered to hear you say that, but that´s something only you readers can change. Thank you so much for the review, I appreciate every review I get! :)"_**  
**

**Hope you liked this chapter, and I hope the next one will come soon. I think you all should look forward to the next letter she´ll get… even though most of you don´t know what it´s about, I know and I think it´ll be good… But you´ll guys have to wait to see what it´ll be about :D**

**Would love to hear what you think, and I believe there now are some happy Jerza fans out there?;)**


	6. Dear Mama

_Before he had any chance to answer, something else took their attention away – a scarlet haired woman with a whole carriage with luggage, rolling after her._

_TOO MUCH LUGGAGE!_

* * *

_Disclaimer: not owning Fairy Tail, if I did… yeah, if I did… _

_**Chapter 6**_

A knock on the door woke Lucy up and she jolted awake, realizing she was sitting on the floor. She carefully got up, making sure it wasn´t hurting so she would fall back down, and then called to the person behind the door, allowing them to come in.

"Lucy-sama, I´ve brought you some food", ms. Spetto said and when she saw Lucy up from the bed, she smiled gently. "Are you feeling better now?"

"Yes, I am", Lucy answered and smiled brightly to ms. Spetto. "I´m great, actually."

_A bit confused, but physically, I´m as good as ever._

"What a relief", ms. Spetto said as she came and put the tray with the food down next to Lucy.

"How is Mama?" Lucy asked, realizing she hadn´t been able to see how Layla was doing for several days.

"She´s not better, but she´s not worse either."

Lucy smiled, feeling relieved. She wished she could talk to her mother about the letters, but she didn´t want to worry her. Then Lucy got this idea, but her stomach growled and she decided to eat first of all.

"Thank you for bringing me the food", Lucy said and ms. Spetto nodded before leaving.

"Let me know if you need anything", was the last thing the old woman said before leaving. Lucy hummed in response.

After finishing her breakfast, Lucy sat down by her desk and brought out a piece of paper.

_Dear Mama,_

_I wish I could tell you this in person, but I don´t want you to worry. You remember the letter from someone unknown I got, right? I´ve gotten more than one. And I´m starting to feel that I can´t keep it to myself anymore, so that´s why I´m writing this. The letters are telling me about another life I was supposed to have lived together with this person, and first I didn´t believe it. But in some way, there seem to be truth behind it… I´m recognizing names and I can almost see the people described in the letter before me. And I´m having dreams. Strange dreams, not only fever-dreams like I´ve been having now when I was sick. I haven´t been able to quite remember the dreams… until now.  
I fell asleep after reading the latest letter I´ve received and I had this dream where I was in a train station. At first, there were only me and two young men there that I apparently knew, and then there was also this blue, talking cat. I kind of felt a grudge against that cat… but that´s off topic. Later in the dream, a woman named Erza also made her appearance._

_These people, Erza and one of the males, have been mentioned in the letters. It might not be strange that I dreamt about them right after reading about them but… it really felt as a memory. It had to be a memory, because I couldn´t come up with something like that, not even in a dream.  
And now, remembering this dream, I´ve realized that I´ve dreamt about these people before. Erza, Gray (the male mentioned in the letter), the other male and even the talking cat._

_Did you know that your mind cannot make people up? Every person you dream about is someone you´ve seen in real life. At least according to a book I´ve read. But these people are mages and I´ve never met a mage in my whole life. And this is why I´m so confused. Are the letters really true and I´ve been a mage in another life, but something happened and now I can´t remember it?_

_I don´t know what to believe! I´m so confused, Mama…_

Lucy put the pen down and stared at the letter. It wasn´t her regular handwriting, this was rash and sloppy and nothing like her. But it was just like her emotions and her emotions were what had been written down on this paper. Her emotions was behind the whole writing part actually. And her body had just moved to the pipe of her emotions, putting thoughts down onto the paper.

Lucy folded the paper in the middle and then brought down an envelope in which she put the letter. She even used a wax-sigil to seal the envelope and turned it around. She wrote "Mama" on it, this time in her neat, beautiful handwriting and left the letter on the desk. Getting everything off her chest made her feel so relieved and she sighed as she felt much more at ease.

She then walked over to where she last had put her current book, picked it up and started to read to spend her time until lunch when she would eat together with her mother and maybe even her father. Yes, this would be a good day.

That was what she believed. But she had no idea about what was about to come.

When Lucy guessed the clock was nearing half past eleven, she put her book down and rose from her seat. She was very close to the ending, only a couple of chapters left and she could probably finish it before lunch, but she had more urging things to take care of at the moment. She picked up the tray with the dishes from her breakfast and brought it down to the kitchen. Some of the maids tried to take the tray from her, but she kindly declined and said that she was heading for the kitchen anyways.  
In the kitchen, Aed their chef, danced around picking spices and ingredients throwing it into his pots and pans. The short man with the big nose was rather carefree when he cocked, and some might even say sloppy, which was a reason to why his nose sometimes was red, as he burnt it quite often. However, no matter how careless he cooked it was always delicious and Lucy loved to learn from the man even if it wasn´t necessary for her to know how to cook since she always would have servants who could do it for her.

"Aed!" she called happily as she put down the dishes in the sink.

Aed who just was looking for something inside a cabinet jerked and hit his head in it before he pulled it out of the cabinet. "Lucy-sama! You here for another lesson?"

"Yup!" Lucy said excitedly, smiling wide as she strode over to him.

Aed grinned, but then got a serious expression as he gazed at her with his half-closed eyes. "Wait a minute, weren´t you sick?"

"I was, but now I´m not and I´m perfectly fine now so let´s get started", Lucy said as she smiled and Aed grinned again.

"Alright! Today we´re making my ´famous´ Secret Stew."

"I´ve always wanted to know how you make it! So what´s the secret?"

"Everything´s the secret", Aed said teasingly as he grinned and Lucy laughed. "The real secret is the vegetables and the spices."

"So which vegetables and spices do you have in it then?" Lucy asked, excited to finally discover the truth behind the stew.

Aed shrugged. "That depends on what I have to work with."

Lucy´s jaw dropped. "But then you make different things every time?!"

Aed shook his head. "I usually have the same spices here, and I know exactly what it´s supposed to taste like, so it tastes about the same every time."

Lucy just looked at him before she burst out laughing. "I just can´t believe you", she laughed.

"What?" Aed asked but Lucy just shook her head.

_Always careless, but still an excellent cook._

"Shall we begin then?" Lucy nodded excitedly. "Will you cut the meat, Lucy-sama?"

Lucy nodded and started cutting. "How big pieces?"

Aed chuckled. "You know that by now, Lucy-sama."

And she did, so she didn´t ask more about that. However, she realized something while she stood there cutting the meat. "Hey, you never told me what kind of meat this is", she pointed out.

"You never asked."

"I am now."

Aed was silent. "It´s different. But today it´s beef, since it tastes good after you´ve boiled it. It becomes much more tender."

"But if you have different meats, than doesn´t that mean it will taste different?"

Aed shook his head. "The meat doesn´t taste so much in this stew since the sauce and vegetables make most of the taste."

And like that, the rest of the cooking class continued. By the time they´d finished, Lucy´s head was spinning a bit from all the new information about what was needed to weigh up with flavor and she was glad they were done so she didn´t need to press anymore information into her head.

When Lucy arrived at the dining area after washing herself up a bit since it was tiring to work in the kitchen (and a bit sweaty), both her parents sat by the table, looking a bit troubled and Layla also looked a bit annoyed.

"Good evening", Lucy greeted her parents with a big smile as she arrived by the table.

Both her parents looked at her surprised, and they both rose from their chairs to come to her. To Lucy´s surprise, her father hugged her tightly and then her mother who he let into the embrace.

"We´ve been very worried, Lucy", her father said quietly.

"I´m sorry for worrying you", Lucy said as she smiled a little, happy that she had so caring parents.

The embrace soon dissolved, but her father stopped with his hand on her shoulder for a moment, looking into her eyes, before he helped Layla to sit down in her chair. Lucy took her seat and so did Jude, and not soon after everyone was in place the maids arrived with the food. Aed also arrived together with the maids to present the food and to declare that Lucy had helped making it. The meal was finished during easy small-talk and it wasn´t until the end of the meal Lucy got her shock.

"Lucy, your mother and I wish to speak with you", Jude began and was silent for a moment before he continued. "You´re soon turning 18 and you haven´t really met any males your age yet…"

Lucy looked at her father, wondering where he was going with this.

"We have decided that it´s time that you´ll meet one. He´s named Charles Rothchester, and a son to one of my business partners. And i… and we were planning on having you married."

Lucy´s eyes widened in shock. _Married? But I´m not even 18 yet…_

"Lucy, if you absolutely don´t want to, we can always call it off", Layla said. "Both me and your father only wish you to be happy, and we don´t want you to make _anything _that´ll make you unhappy."

Lucy put on a smile, but it probably looked a bit strained. "It´s fine, it won´t hurt to meet him, right? But is it okay for me to go to my room? I´m not feeling so well…"

"Of course, Lucy", her father said, watching her with concerned eyes as she got off her chair.

Lucy nodded, but before she left she asked when Charles was coming, to which her father answered a month and Lucy nodded once again before she left, feeling her parents gaze at her from behind with worried frowns.

As Lucy arrived at her room, she closed the door and sunk down, leaning against it. She felt like crying, but she didn´t know why. She felt like her heart broke into thousands of pieces and she wasn´t even forced into it! She just felt like she was betraying someone… but she had no one she could betray since, like her father had put it, she hadn´t met any males her age. She didn´t have anyone she loved, and even though she hadn´t… the whole idea of marrying anyone felt wrong.

_Not anyone… there´s only one person… but… I don´t know…_

Lucy sighed and rose from the floor. She was in shock, that was all. Maybe if she slept, she would come to her senses about marrying this guy.

* * *

**I´ve recently noticed something that´s a mistake from my side. I didn´t check the staff working in Heartfilia Konzern (the mansion Lucy lived in before she ran away in the original story) and thus I made a mistake thinking I remembered ms. Setto better than I did. Ms. Spetto is a middle aged woman, but I have referred to her as "old" a couple of times, I believe, and I could go change it… but I simply don´t feel like it. So from now on, you all know she´s **_**middle aged**_** and not old. Sorry for that!**

**Okay, so now to the chapter. What did you think? I know this must come as a shock to you and you´re allowed to hate me for this, but don´t give up on the story just because of it! After all, not all hopes gone since Lucy can cancel it all if she wishes.**

**Would love to hear what you think, critic are just as welcome –that´s the only way to improve :)**

**Hopefully, I´ll see you soon, take care until then!**

**Ps. No new letter this time, but there will be one for sure in the next chapter…**


	7. The reason things changed

Days went by and Lucy still couldn´t get that she was supposed to meet her future husband in less than a month. The idea of marrying someone other than… someone… still bugged her more than the idea of actually getting married. And as the days turned into a week, Lucy was on edge, wanting the next letter to come. She had soon discovered it, but now she really felt it – to not read those letters had about the same resemblance for her as to not being able to continue reading a book because the next chapter was missing. She had abstinence, waiting for the next letter and she even tried to re-read the earlier ones to get over it. She read the first letter over and over again, because it somehow seemed to awaken some kind of visions, and she dreamt about the letters content more and more.

She also remembered more of her dreams, but there was some people she couldn´t remember that clearly. The people mentioned in the letters – Gray, Erza, Levy, Happy (who she now knew was the cat), even Jet and Droy – she had no trouble remembering their faces. But there was Cana, a brown-haired girl which Lucy couldn´t remember the face of, two white-haired sisters she didn't really remember the names of either, a tall, kind of shaggy-looking guy with black-hair and piercings who she didn´t know the name of, a blue haired girl who´s appearance changed a lot through her dreams and a blue haired young girl with a white cat. Those were the ones that often were in her dreams. And there was one guy who was there more than anyone, but he was like a shadow. She couldn´t remember anything about his appearance nor what he´d said, but she always remembered that he had been in her dreams.

As Lucy once again picked up the first letter, the one who had made her go to Hargeon, she realized something. She met one of the people that had been in her dreams there. Two actually. Wendy Marvell and her cat, Carla.

_Why is she in those dreams? Is my mind only making up these whole dreams, or was she one of the people that were there? Wait, why am I thinking as if I actually believe the letters?!_

Lucy sighed. She was getting more and more confused, and annoyed too. Why couldn´t that person just put their name or address on so she could go and check it out herself and see that it wasn´t true! It was completely crazy. But even if she thought it was, there was also this part of her that did believe the letters and that was the biggest reason to her confusion.

_Might as well try to get some sleep…_

Lucy prepared for bed, but before she actually got in it, ms. Spetto knocked on the door. Lucy met her by it and saw that the woman held an envelope in her hand.

"This came earlier, but I just found it", she said panting a bit, as if she´d been running all the way to Lucy´s room.

"Thank you, ms. Spetto", Lucy said as she smiled gently at the lady.

Lucy received the envelope, and ms. Spetto wished her a good night before leaving. Lucy closed the door and went to her bed where she opened the envelope and took out the letter.

…

_Hi Lucy,_

_It´s been awhile since I´ve last wrote to you, but I needed time to write this. I needed to remember as much as possible, as many details as I possibly could. I want you to understand.  
I´ve only mentioned it, but the reason things are like this is because of a mission you and I did. I don´t really remember what went wrong with the mission itself, but I´ll tell you the reason why went on it._

_There was an accident that happened to the guild, but I don´t remember the cause of it. Gramps was the only one who got hurt when he protected the rest of us. At first, everything seemed fine, but then gramps just turned back to his original shape and fell to the ground. Everybody rushed to his side, but he wasn´t breathing and his heart wasn´t beating. Laxus tried to make the heart beat again, but it didn´t work. Not even Wendy could do anything. Jet went after Porlyusica, but both she and Wendy drew the same conclusion. Gramps had used too much of his magic and taken a too critical hit. There wasn´t anything anyone could do.  
The loss of gramps was a great sorrow and the whole guild was miserable. Everybody wished that there was something they could have done, and everyone blamed themselves for the accident in some way. We all wished that there were some way we could turn things back, and many of us looked for a way to do it too.  
Erza was the one who found it. She came to you and me, and told us that we needed to fix it. We asked her how we were supposed to do it and she told us that she had found a way for us to travel in time and prevent it from ever happening. I don´t really know how we did it, but it had something to do with your magic and how the Celestial Spirit Realm doesn´t have the same time-flow.  
But when we traveled, we somehow went too far back in time and changed our own present much more than we´d ever expect. I don´t remember anything about what we did, but I do remember the last part of our mission, when we got ripped from each other by the time-flow._

_Our mission was a success, and gramps´ as good as ever, running the guild and complaining at us for destroying things. But even though we succeed in doing what we went to do, we failed in another aspect since you´re not here anymore. It´s weird not having you here._

_I´m sorry this took so long time to write, I really tried to remember more, but… I hope I haven´t made you too upset, I don´t want you to get sad. We made it, after all. No bad news this time._

_Bye for now, I hope the next letter I will send will arrive sooner than this did._

…

Lucy felt how a lump was forming in her throat as she read. She felt the sorrow and pain, even though it wasn´t very detailed. And somewhere in the middle, tears had gathered in her eyes. It hurt so much to read it, because she really felt the pain of the writer too.

When she finished reading, she gently placed the letter on the bed beside her and buried her face in her hands, letting tears stream down her face.

_I don´t want you to get sad._

Remembering those words was what finally made Lucy calm down and she put the letter on the floor before she lay down to get some sleep, tears still running down her face as she fell asleep.

_The first thing Lucy noticed was where she was, outside this big building with a sign. But she didn´t look at her surroundings for long, since the giant in front of her caught her attention. It had its back against her and she didn´t know if she was supposed to be scared or not, because even though it was huge, it had this stance as if it was protecting her… and the people around her that she just noticed._

_Suddenly, the giant shrunk to a very short man and the man collapsed on the ground._

"_Master!" everyone around her and herself ran to the collapsed, old man._

"_He´s not breathing!" a short, blue haired girl called out with tears in her eyes._

"_Jet, get Porlyusica here!" a woman with scarlet red haired called out._

"_He´s already on his way", someone answered, but Lucy didn´t see who._

_Another short and blue haired girl sat down next to the old man´s body, but she was younger than most of the people around. She put her hands just above the man´s chest and closed her eyes, a frown of concentration appearing on her forehead. Her hands started to glow brightly, and sweat appeared in her face, but nothing seemed to happen._

"_It doesn´t work", she whispered as her hands stopped glowing and she started to cry, burying her face in her hands and sobs was escaping her._

_The girl wasn´t the only one who cried, everyone did. Lucy´s sight was blurred from tears and small sobs came from her body too._

"_Let me through! I have Porlyusica here!" a male called out and to people broke through the wall of concerned faces._

_An older woman with pink haired kneeled next to the man. Lucy couldn´t see what she was doing, but after awhile, the woman´s shoulders that had been so proud slumped. "He´s gone…"_

"_No! I won´t accept that!" a blonde male with a lightning scar pushed through and stared at the pink haired lady._

"_His heart has stopped."_

"_Then I´ll make it beat again! Everyone, back off!"_

_There were so much authority in the voice that everyone did as he said. Lightning appeared on his hands and he thrust them against the old man, sending the lightning into his body. The body jolted from the lightning, but nothing else happened. The man tried again and again, tears starting to make their way down his cheeks._

"_LAXUS! Please, stop it!" a woman with long, white hair screamed through her tears._

"_Just realize he´s gone, you idiot!" it was the scarlet haired woman again, trying to sound tough through her tears._

"_He can´t be gone!"_

_That voice. Lucy didn´t even need to look, she knew exactly who it was who screamed that in agony._

Natsu…

_The vision around her disappeared, and when it appeared again she was in another place. She knew she was inside the building she had seen from the outside earlier. The atmosphere was filled with sorrow, it felt like you should be able to touch it._

"_Come with me for a moment", the scarlet haired woman appeared in front of her, directing her words to Lucy and the person next to her. She walked up a pair of stairs and then stopped on a spot where they could see the whole floor beneath them. "Do you see how things are now? It can´t stay like this. Restore it back, Natsu, Lucy."_

"_But how, Erza?" Lucy heard and felt herself whimper._

"_You can do it. You two have to travel in time."_

"_Are you coming with us, Erza?"_

"_No, Natsu. I have to stay behind and take care of the guild members. Gildarts and Laxus can´t do it on their own."_

_Lucy nodded, with tears in her eyes. "Let´s do it, Natsu. We´ll get him back."_

_Natsu nodded, dead serious. "We´ll get gramps back Erza, don´t worry. We won´t fail."_

_Erza smiled kindly, but Lucy didn´t miss the tear in her eye. "I know."_

"_How do we do it?" Lucy said, determined._

"_I´ve been doing some research. I´ve found things in these books here", Erza brought them to a table._

_But before she could say or show them anything more, the surroundings changed once again. But it was strange, Lucy didn´t get to see how it looked because everything were skew, and it was as if the surroundings had rips._

"_Lucy!" she heard him call out and felt a warm hand around her own._

"_Natsu, where are you? I can´t see you!"_

"_Don´t let go of my hand!"_

_But she felt her grip slip, no matter how hard she held on. It was as if something behind her was pulling her away from him._

"_Natsu!"_

"_Lucy, don´t let go!"_

"_I´m slipping!" she screamed and felt how her hand was jerked away from his._

"_LUCY!"_

"Natsu!"

Lucy was suddenly sitting, wide awake in her bed. Something made its way down her face, but she couldn´t tell if it was tears or sweat.

"_I´ll find you Lucy."_

"Natsu…" she whispered before she fell back down in her bed, and fell asleep in exhaustion. She felt like she hadn´t slept at all.

**This is what happened that caused things to be like this. I don´t really know what to say, so that´s all I guess.**

**Leave me a review, I would love to hear what you think. Did anyone see this coming, I wonder?**

**Bye, take care!^-^**

**Oh, I almost forgot! Updates won´t be as frequent (as it been sometimes) in the future since I´ll start working soon, and when I´ve finished that, school starts. But I´ll update as soon as I have time, and I´ll do my best to not keep you guys waiting too long…**


	8. Empty halls

"_I´ll find you Lucy."_

"Natsu…" she whispered before she fell back down in her bed, and fell asleep in exhaustion. She felt like she hadn´t slept at all.

_Disclaimer: Not owning FT, if I did I wouldn´t have written a fan fiction about it :P_

* * *

_**Chapter 8**_

When Lucy woke up, she remembered the dreams she had had and felt like crying. But then she remembered that their Master had survived. And then she felt like crying a little less, but she still wanted to cry for the for the people in the dream she had, because she didn´t know them anymore. Because she didn´t know him.

She now believed in what the letters had been telling her was the truth. And it completely broke her heart to know it.

She flung the covers off her body and went to her desk where she took a piece of paper and a pen, once again, and wrote.

_Dear Mama,_

_I know now that it has to be true. I believe it, I was a mage in another life. I miss the people I see in my dreams. And last night, I had the most horrible dream so far, but I´ve partly been dreaming it before, both when I was sick and before I was._

_The master of the guild I was in died, and me and this other guy traveled back in time to change fate so the master wouldn´t die. But somehow, it got wrong and the two of us, me and the one I traveled with, got separated when we should have been together. And now I´m not a mage anymore. I wonder what we did, that could change so much? That changed me being a mage?  
Have you heard of anything called the Celestial Spirit Realm? It was mentioned in the latest letter and it had something to do with the type of magic I had…_

_I miss him, Mama. And I don´t know his name nor face. But I believe he´s the one who´s been sending me the letters… no, I´m certain it´s him. I can´t understand why I just can´t remember him! I can remember most of the others, even if there were some people who haven´t been shown in my dreams. I want to see them, even just for the sake of _seeing _them, literally. But I don´t know which guild it is, and there´s a lot of mage´s guild in Fiore. How would I know where to begin when I don´t have a clue?_

_I really whished you could give me some advice._

Lucy put the pen down and looked at the letter. Her handwriting was much better this time, because this time she was much less upset and confused, and much more determined. She knew what to think and believe now, and as long as nothing else came in the way and confused her, she would be fine.

Lucy did the same with this letter – put it in an envelope, sealed it with wax and wrote _Mama _on it – before she left it on the desk. As Lucy left her room to get some breakfast, she wondered what day it was. Did she have lessons to attend?

She really had no idea. She had had a "break" and then she got sick, but now she started to wonder when her classes was supposed to begin again. She hadn´t seen her teacher for a long time. Since he was the librarian too, she usually saw him around, but now she hadn´t. She wondered why, like all of the people who worked in Heartfilia Konzern, he lived there too.

_Maybe I should ask one of the maids? They usually know the latest of what´s going on at the mansion._

As Lucy exited her room, in her nightgown which was very unusual for her to do, she saw that the corridor was completely empty.

_Okay, that´s not so strange… they´re usually one or two maids around, but maybe they´re supposed to clean later…_

As Lucy headed for the stairs to the next floor, she still saw no people around. And as she reached the floor below, she didn´t meet anyone there either. She was starting to feel a bit uneasy, usually there would be some maids around, even if they simply would run by with a slight bow, heading for another destination. There were always someone around or close by, she would at least hear footsteps from the maids. Lucy sighed. She was probably just being paranoid and nothing was wrong.

Lucy headed for the kitchen to ask Aed if he could make her something to eat, but he wasn´t there either. And that was _really _strange because the man practically lived in the kitchen.

She was getting really worried now, but since she was very hungry, she decided to cook something for herself first. She ate it in the kitchen, still wondering why it was so silent everywhere. She looked to a window, only to discover that the curtains were all drawn, blocking the view out, which she now realized they had been on every floor. That was extremely unusual, as her mother preferred to have them out of the way, letting sunlight shine in. That was the moment it hit her.

_Mama!_

She ran out of the kitchen and to Layla´s room, but it was empty. She ran back down the stairs, ignoring the pain in her chest as she grew tired and couldn´t breathe properly.

_Mama… please, no! Don´t take her away!_

She ran through every floor, listening for people. Where Layla was, there were sure to be other people too.

_She was getting better…_

She ran down another couple of stairs.

_She was going to be okay. The sickness was on its way to leave her._

She busted the doors to her father´s study open, but it was empty.

_Everybody said she was going to be fine! Everybody believed she would recover!_

Lucy felt tears rising in her eyes as she ran. But she wouldn´t cry, not yet. She needed to find her father first. She ran down another couple of stairs.

_I believed she was going to recover! Everything was supposed to turn into how it used to be! With Mama by my side, healthy and teasing me!_

The tears overflowed her eyes and started running down her cheeks. She stroked them away with her sleeves as she ran, frustrated, sad and afraid.

_She was supposed to be Maid of honor at my wedding. She and Papa would play in the garden with my children. Mama would teach them about the constellations and beauty in the world, and Papa would teach them business when they got older._

Lucy could barely see anything anymore, but she refused to stop. She ran with her hand against the wall so she could feel when a turn was coming up. The truth was that she knew this house as well as the back of her hand and she couldn´t get lost. She knew exactly where she was.

Lucy suddenly heard voices, muffled since they were on the other side of the door, inside the living room. She stopped and tried to catch her breath as well as to streak away her tears before she opened the door. She wanted to look collected and somewhat calm, just like her mother would have been in a situation like this.

When the doors swung open, Lucy got a good look at the situation before most people in the room turned their eyes towards her. All maids and employees, except the guards, where standing by the walls, leaving much space to the doctor who was attending the patient who was laying in the sofa. Ms. Spetto was standing close by the doctor, obviously acting as an extra hand to him. And she also supported Layla who looked more fragile than ever.

"Lucy", Layla said in surprise as she met her daughter´s gaze. "Weren´t you asleep?"

"I recently woke up", Lucy answered flatly before she asked: "What´s going on?"

The doctor spoke up. "Lucy-sama, there is no need to be concerned as I just explained to your mother. Heartfilia-sama collapsed due to stress, but my recommendation is that he won´t work the coming days and just relax – maybe go to a spa or similar. Either way, Heartfilia-sama will be just fine."

_Papa?_

Lucy went over to the sofa, where her father lay, sound asleep.

"He lost consciousness earlier, but there is no need to worry. Just let him rest. I suggest we all leave the room so we won´t disturb him, and the curtains should stay drawn. However, someone should check on him now and then to make sure that he´s fine."

Everybody in the room nodded and Layla rose with the help of ms. Spetto. Lucy immediately went to her mother´s side and supported her.

"Ms. Spetto", Layla said as she looked at the woman who was slightly older than herself, "would you mind being the one who checks on Jude for me?"

"Of course not, Layla-sama."

Layla smiled and looked at the doctor. "Do you have any instructions she need to know, I suggest you take them now. All of us should leave right now", she mostly addressed the maids as she said this and she was the first out of the room, with her daughter by her side of course.

"Should I take you to your room, Mama?"

Layla smiled weakly. "Would you mind? I think I need to rest."

"Of course I don´t mind, I suggested it myself", Lucy said as she smiled gently towards her mother.

Layla giggled. "Oh, how forgetful I am. I´m just worried about your father."

"I know, Mama… but you heard the doctor, he´ll be fine if he just gets to rest."

She sighed. "Yes, but as soon as he has rest, he will continue to work as hard as before, won´t he?"

"I don´t know", Lucy mumbled.

Layla laughed sadly. "We both know that´s a lie, Lucy dear."

They reached Layla´s room and Lucy opened the door, leading her inside and to the bed.

"Why have you cried, honey?" Layla asked.

"I was worried something had happened to you. I thought that was the only reason everybody could be missing at the same time."

"And then it was your father", Layla smiled sadly as she lay down on her bed.

"How are you, Mama?" Lucy asked concerned.

"As good as ever", she said, smiling with her eyes closed. "Don´t worry about me, Lucy. I´m fine."

Lucy nodded and bent down to kiss her forehead. "Rest well, Mama."

Layla didn´t answer as she was fast asleep. Lucy exited the room, and as soon as she did one of the younger maids came rushing to her.

"Lucy-sama… I have a letter for you. Ms. Spetto told me to give it to you right away."

"Thank you, Mai", Lucy said and smiled as she received the letter.

She looked at the envelope and knew right away who it came from. She could recognize that hand-writing anywhere by now. Another letter had come.

* * *

**Okay, so I apologize for this chapter as it kind of is like a filler chapter, and please don´t hate me (too much)… no tomato-throwing! This dress is white!**

**Ehm, sorry. Since it´s kind of a filler chap that doesn´t really move the story forward, I´ll post another chapter very soon as compensation.**

**I hope you´ll still think it´s an okay chapter, even though the next will be better (well, it does contain another letter…).**

**Take care everybody, and you´re welcome to review as always – I would love to hear what you think anyways, but if you have nothing to say, I can understand that. Just a bit curious – did you guys believe something had happened to Layla or not?**

**Take care and see you guys next chapter! ^-^**


	9. Bad news

_She looked at the envelope and knew right away whom it come from. She could recognize that hand-writing anywhere by now. Another letter had come._

Lucy returned to her room and sat down on her bed before she opened the envelope and took out the letter.

…

_Hi again._

_I realized after sending you the latest letter that there still are close friends to you that I haven´t mentioned._

_Do you remember Cana, the heaviest drinker in the guild? Nobody could beat her – well, except Bacchus but Cana had already been drinking when they had their competition, so it wasn´t exactly fair.  
Cana still joined the guild of the same reason as when you were here –to tell her father that she exists. But she haven´t done it this time either. She´s exactly the same, drinks about half of the guilds total consumption of alcohol herself and still has quite bad-temper sometimes. And no matter what she has said – she´s still in the guild._

_Demon Mirajane, does it ring a bell? She was another of your closest friends. She was really kind, but sometimes she got this demonic side to her too, if you ever wanted to say no to her for example. Mira changed when her little sister "died" (she never died, just disappeared into Edolas), and she became much calmer and nicer, but her magic-power also weakened a lot. However, when Lisanna, Mira´s sister, returned, Mira became just as strong again.  
Things turned out a bit different in this life. Lisanna never "died" because I brought her on a mission before she got a chance to go on the mission with her siblings which caused her to "die". Mira´s still kind in this life, since she grew up from being such a mean teenager, but she and Erza still fought for a longer time. They stopped fighting each other all the time 2 years ago, when they both decided that they were "mature enough to get along". They still fought each other like once a month though, but they actually haven´t gotten into any fights the last 3 months. Master´s extremely happy about that, since they destroyed so much. They´re even worse than Gray and I – and we are bad. But we hit each other and others more than they did._

_Then there´s Wendy Marvell, a blue-haired young girl who´s a Dragon Slayer. She´s still a part of our guild, and she joined when we stopped Oración Seis from retrieving Nirvana – a magic with the power to turn dark to light and light to dark. She and Carla joined our guild after finding out that their guild wasn´t existing. She was really sad back then, but now she´s a proud member of our guild and she´s very happy.  
Carla has the power to see into the future, but she doesn´t seem to know about having it. We never went to Edolas, from where she and Happy comes from, and Mystogan never joined the guild, so I guess that means things changed to the better in Edolas too and they´re not craving magic power which they feel the need to steal from our world. It´s too bad about Carla´s power though, since she can´t tell me if I´ll ever meet you now._

_I´ve told you about all your closest friends now, well except Happy but he´s _exactly _the same. I´ll send you another letter soon again, take care Lucy._

…

Lucy lay the letter next to herself.

"You still haven´t told me about you", she muttered as she rose.

_And I believe you were the one most important to me of them all._

She left the room and went outside to sit in the garden to think for a while. She needed to find them. It was more than a wish, it was like a calling – she couldn´t think about anything else other than that. Well, except her father´s condition.

As Lucy walked, deep in thought, she suddenly heard voices.

"I´m sorry I have to tell you this, Layla-sama, but I´ve been doing a bit of investigation and I believe it´s worse than we feared", a male voice spoke.

"How bad, ojiisan?"

_So that´s why I haven´t seen sensei around?_

Lucy peeked around a bush that was in the way and saw her mother sitting on a bench while Ribbon, their librarian and Lucy´s teacher, stood in front of her.

"It seems like the reason Jude-sama has been working so hard has its roots in Lucy-sama´s engagement."

"If it comes through?"

Ribbon shook his head. "The opposite, I´m afraid. If Lucy-sama regrets her decision, Jude-sama and Heartfilia Konzern won´t get the same money since the contract Jude-sama has agreed on won´t go through."

"What will happen if Lucy decides to not marry Charles?"

Ribbon looked down to the ground. "Heartfilia Konzern won´t make it through another month."

"You mean…?" Layla asked with widened eyes.

"I´m afraid so. If nothing else come up, Heartfilia Konzern will be ruined."

Lucy felt her eyes widen and clasped her hands in front of her mouth so she wouldn´t make a sound and reveal that she had been eavesdropping. Layla had always taught Lucy that she wasn´t supposed to eavesdrop and that it was bad behavior to do so, and she didn´t want to anger her mother – or worse, make her sad. It was bad enough about her father, but that they we´re about to be ruined to made things much worse. The last Layla needed was to get even more sad or upset – the woman was very sick to top it.

Lucy quickly spun on her heal and left without a sound. She left them behind and set off in a direction in which she usually didn´t go and where she wouldn´t have to face her mother nor any of the servants, but still would be on the grounds and not being stopped by guards. She didn´t go very far, just for a couple of minutes, but as she turned around she couldn´t see the mansion anymore. She sat down on the grass under a tree, leaning against the trunk and looked up into the crown.

_Papa has over-worked himself because we´re going to be ruined if I choose not to marry Charles Rothchester. That means I have to marry him, no matter what kind of person he is. But Mama and Papa have always said I´m supposed to only do what makes me happy. And I don´t want to marry him… but I won´t be happy if Mama and Papa have to move if I say no to marry him. And with Mama´s sickness… she needs to be treated. She needs security. She can´t move around a lot. And she can definitely not live on the street!_

Lucy closed her eyes as she felt tears were about to gather in them.

_Papa and I could probably manage to live poorly, but Mama can´t work now. And what if she can´t even get proper meals every day? Then she´ll never recover._

Lucy opened her eyes again and stroke away the one tear that had escaped her eye.

_That means I have to marry Charles, no matter what… right? Can´t Papa make some other deal? How can they even make a deal depending on a marriage?!_

"Lucy-sama?" a voice asked carefully. Lucy snapped her head in the direction of the voice. The maid jerked. "I´m sorry!"

Lucy smiled gently. "No need to worry, Lea. I was just surprised. What are you doing here?"

"I was just delivering a message to the guards", she said carefully, as if she was afraid to upset Lucy. "But I was wondering… why is Lucy-sama sitting here?"

"Just taking some fresh air", Lucy said with a smile.

"Lucy-sama… you´re still wearing your night-wear", Lea said quietly.

Lucy looked down on herself. "I do? I do…"

"Lucy-sama better go in. So you don´t catch a cold."

Lucy smiled. "You´re right, Lea. I´ll go in now."

"I´ll take you there, Lucy-sama", Lea said and stretched a hand to help her up which Lucy gladly accepted.

They walked in silence, Lucy still thinking about what to do.

_Maybe I should talk with Mama? But no, I don´t want her to worry about me knowing this. It would only cause her worry. Ms. Spetto, maybe? But I can´t tell her something like this, my decision will affect her life too._

Lucy nodded to herself.

_I´ll simply keep this to myself._

When Lucy and Lea arrived at the mansion, Lea excused herself and the two of them went their separate ways. Lucy walked the stairs to her room and lay down on the bed. She closed her eyes, thinking she would rest for a bit but she couldn´t get any peace. She opened her eyes and rose. She went over to the desk, thinking she would write Layla another letter. She brought down a paper and picked up a pen before she noticed.

"Where´s the other letters?!"

She lifted all papers around her, looked at the floor, in her drawers and on the shelves. Everywhere she believed she could have put them, and even in places she knew she would never put them.

"Where´s Mama´s letters?" she whispered to herself as she rummaged her room, searching for them. "Ms. Spetto!"

She quickly left the room and headed to find ms. Spetto whom she knew surely still was by Jude´s side. Lucy carefully opened the doors to the living room so she wouldn´t wake her father and ms. Spetto immediately looked up at the sound of the door opening. Lucy gestured for the woman to come out to hear, and ms. Spetto seeing Lucy´s eyes knew it was something important.

Ms. Spetto carefully closed the doors after she passed through them and turned to Lucy. "What´s wrong, Lucy-sama?"

"I had some letters on my desk that are missing, have you moved them?"

Ms. Spetto shook her head. "No, I don't touch Lucy-sama´s belongings."

Lucy rubbed her forehead in frustration. "It wasn´t obvious that they were mine, they were addressed to Mama."

"To Layla-sama?"

"Yes, but from me."

"I haven´t moved them, Lucy-sama", ms. Spetto said carefully, as if still figuring it out as she spoke, "but one of the other maids may have? They were supposed to clean your room today and maybe they thought that the letters were left out for Layla-sama to find?"

"Oh no", Lucy mumbled and then spun around on her heal, leaving to go to her mother´s room. "Thanks, ms. Spetto!" she called over her shoulder as she ran.

Lucy stopped for a moment to catch her breath as she stopped outside her mother´s room. She didn´t want her mother to suspect anything, in case she hadn´t discovered the letters yet.

"Mama?" she asked quietly as she opened the door.

She peeked inside, only to find the room much darker than usual. All the curtains were drawn, blocking the sun-light.

"Mama?" Lucy asked gently again.

She saw the shape of her mother, sitting on the bed. It was very quiet in the room, Layla didn´t answer her calls.

"Mama?" Lucy asked again, starting to get nervous. She walked up to her mother and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Mama, what´s wrong?"

"It´s my fault, Lucy", she said in a voice that scared Lucy. It was calm, yet sad and it sounded… emotionless in one way.

"What is, Mama?"

"That you´re not there."

**Oh, how you must hate me now. I kinda do too. Sorry guys, but it´s a drama after all so I have to make it dramatic.**

**Sorry that I haven´t updated sooner, I was supposed to post it earlier, but I just couldn´t find the time to read it through and post it.**

**Leave me a review will you, even if it´s just to tell me how much you hate me for this.**

**Toodles^-^**


	10. The mage

"_It´s my fault, Lucy", she said in a voice that scared Lucy. It was calm, yet sad and it sounded… emotionless in one way._

"_What is, Mama?"_

"_That you´re not there."  
_

* * *

**I just want to thank all of you who read my story, I get so happy every time I get a mail from this page, telling me I´ve got a new reader or the story have been reviewed. And your reviews always makes me smile, some more than others but I´m really happy for every last one of them! Thank you all who´ve reviewed, followed and/or favorite my story (and you who follow me as an author too), to see how many of you who like my work makes me really happy!**

**Thank you all for your support, you guys are what keeps me going!**

* * *

Lucy stared at her mother. "I don´t understand."

"It´s my fault that you´re not with them", Layla stated once again and Lucy looked at her mother. Lucy then looked down to see the letters she had written in Layla´s hands.

"What do you mean?" she asked seriously and sat down next to her mother. "Why am I not with them?"

"I broke a rule."

"What rule?"

Layla frowned, still with a very strange facial expression.

"I don´t know."

"What do you mean you don´t know? I don't understand, can´t you explain?" Lucy tried to sound calm, but she was getting really frustrated.

Layla blinked and looked at her daughter. She then looked down at the letter and suddenly, tears gathered in her eyes.

"Mama, what´s wrong? Are you alright?"

Layla nodded. "Yes. But it´s painful to remember."

"You don´t have to tell me", Lucy said immediately.

"I do", Layla said and then was silent for a moment before she continued. "You had Celestial Spirit Magic in your other life, a Holder Magic. It means that to use the magic you have to have an item, and when it comes to Celestial Spirit Magic the mage has keys which they use to summon Spirits from the Celestial Spirit Realm, another dimension."

Lucy nodded. She was surprised to hear how much her mother knew about magic, she herself knew so little.

Layla continued. "Every magic has taboos that cannot be broken." Suddenly, tears started running down her face. "I broke one."

"What?!"

"Worst mistake I´ve ever made", she whispered with broken voice.

Lucy hugged her mother silently, and Layla´s muffled sobs was the only thing audible in the room. When her sobs subdued, Lucy let go of her mother and Layla stroke away the tears that had made their way down her cheeks.

"You were a mage?" Lucy asked carefully, still not able to grasp it but not wanting to upset her mother.

Layla smiled sadly. "I know I´ve never told you about it, but I haven´t really remembered it. When you break a taboo it has effects on the users body. I lost my memory and my magic after doing what I did, but I do not remember _what _I did."

"What was your magic."

"Same like yours in your other life, Celestial Spirit Magic."

"Is that why you know so much about the constellations?" Lucy asked not able to quite contain her curiosity even if she didn´t want to upset Layla more.

Layla nodded. "The bound between a Celestial Spirit Mage and their Spirits is very important, and the mage should know a lot about their spirits."

Lucy nodded. That made sense.

"Do you remember how I always told you that you shall always keep what you promise?" Lucy nodded again. "For a Celestial Spirit Mage, promises are extremely important. When they summon a spirit for the first time, they create a contract and it´s really important."

Lucy looked at her mother´s facial expression as she spoke, and after a moment of silent, Lucy spoke out without really thinking. "You must have loved them a lot."

Layla smiled sadly. "I did. I still do, really", she stroke her cheek once again, streaking away an escaped tear. "The fountain is for them, in their memory."

"The mermaid and the lion?"

"The Waterbearer Aquarius and the Lion Leo, to be precise. And The Goat, Capricorn, but I don´t know if you´ve ever seen him in the fountain. Aquarius and Capricorn were my spirits, and Leo was one I always admired, but never got to see. He´s the leader of the Zodiac."

"I can´t believe it", Lucy muttered.

"I understand that it´s a lot to grasp."

Lucy nodded. "What changed?" she asked herself.

"I don´t know, dear. But if you get the chance to find the person who writes to you, take that chance."

"I don´t know if I can…" Lucy mumbled.

"Why not?"

"I know about the deal", Lucy said quietly and rose.

"Lucy…"

"Don´t. I need to think about it on my own, Mama. It´s my decision."

"It is. So therefore, you shouldn´t consider anything regarding me or your father when you make it."

Lucy didn´t answer. "Rest well, Mama."

_How could I possible _not _consider them when I make my choice? It will affect everything…_

Lucy went by the living room when she returned to her room. Ms Spetto was as Lucy expected still inside the room with her father and she waved her out to talk to her.

"Lucy-sama?"

"Ms. Spetto, I would like to be alone to think the next couple of days. Nothing is allowed to disturb me, not my parents nor the maids. The only time I can be disturbed is when I´m going to eat. Can you make sure I´ll be brought food three times a day?"

"Of course, Lucy-sama, but may I ask why?"

"I need to think", Lucy answered before she left ms. Spetto by the living room door. She knew ms. Spetto would fix everything she wanted, the way she wanted it.

Lucy stayed in her room for days, only leaving to go to the bathroom across of her room. She ate all her meals in her room and only thought about different scenarios that could happen when she had made her decision. It was easier for her to think what would happen if she said no to the marriage, since she had something to base her speculations on. When it came to if she said yes, she didn´t know anything about Charles, she didn´t even have a hum about his appearance. She guessed he was about her age, and that was it.

Lucy sighed in frustration. No matter how many times she went over it, she never came to a conclusion. She was still as clueless and torn as before. And what her mother had told her still spun around in her head. She was just so confused again.

"And I who just had everything figured out…" she muttered to herself. "Maybe there really isn´t any way to decide this until I´ve met Charles… but no matter what, I still know what I have to do."

_Mama… Papa…_

Lucy rose from her seated position and went to the window. She opened it up and let some air in.  
Her mind wandered off to her one-sided pen-pal. Why couldn´t just that person visit her instead of

Lucy shook her head to get her mind back on track. After all, she was isolated for one reason only – to figure out whether to agree or not to marrying him.

"But there really is only one way."

_I have to take care of them this time. After all, they´ve always taken care of me._

* * *

**This sure came out sooner than I expected. One second I had no idea one second and the next – bam! Finished. Don´t expect the next chapter very soon though, I´ve barely started…**

**Leave me a review, and yes, sorry – cliffhanger – but you´re gonna have to expect that in the future too.**

**Hope I see you sooner than I think I will!**


	11. Happiness

"_But there really is only one way."_

_I have to take care of them this time. After all, they´ve always taken care of me."_

* * *

**I´m so pissed over one thing in this chapter – my computer shut down when I was in the middle of writing and I had to re-write a lot. Lucky I remembered what I wrote, at least kinda.**

**And now it seems my own computer has crashed, luckily I have my chapters on dropbox.**

* * *

Lucy left the window open as she headed out of her room. She was heading towards the stairs, and she saw a couple of maids who looked at her with a combination of relief, surprise and curiosity. She could understand that, since she had been inside her room for several days without anyone knowing why or how long she was going to stay in there.

She set her aim for her mother´s room, the place she was most likely to find Layla. She stopped outside the room and opened the door carefully so she wouldn´t wake her mother if the woman was asleep. As Lucy peeked inside, she saw Layla sitting by the window staring out the garden through it, just like Lucy herself liked to do.

"Mama", Lucy said without stepping inside the room. Layla´s head jerked to her daughter and Lucy saw the dark circles under her eyes clearly.

_Hasn´t she been able to sleep?_

Lucy saw this clearly, but she didn´t ask , for she knew that if she let herself feel, she would regret her decision. Even if she only let herself feel concern for her mother.

"I promise you I´ll marry Charles."

Layla opened her mouth to say something, but before she could Lucy had already shut the door and was on her way away from the room. Lucy headed down the corridor and the first set of stairs to fin her father, even though she knew she had made Layla upset and sad.

_I´ll make sure all of us live, no matter what._

"´A life without happiness is not worth living´", a voice next to her said.

Lucy spun on her heel and found herself eye to eye with Aed. "What are you doing here?" she asked surprised.

"Lucy-sama seems to think I simply live in the kitchen?" Aed laughed.

Lucy shrugged. "That´s where I usually see you."

Aed laughed again but then became serious. "Lucy-sama, please cheer up. If you look so sad, you will worry all of us, especially ms. Spetto."

"I´m not sad."

"Oh, my mistake then", Aed didn´t sound like he believed her. "But please smile anyways, it suits you much better, Lucy-sama."

Lucy nodded.

"And one more thing, if you care to take my advice. I don´t know what´s going on Lucy-sama, but I want to give you the same advice I once was given, when I had to make a hard decision. ´A life without happiness is not worth living, because it is no longer life´."

Lucy nodded again, remembering the words that her favorite author had written. Aed smiled at her, seeing he reached her with his words and turned to walk away.

"Aed!" she said and Aed turned to her again. "May I ask when you had to make that decision?"

"It was when I was a young man, when I got to choose between my family and my dreams."

"What did you choose?"

"I´m here, aren´t I? What do you think I chose?" Aed blinked towards her and then left her.

Lucy shook her head and continued her search for her father, who she believed would be in his study, working as usual. She knew her father was well enough to work again the second day, when ms. Spetto had arrived with Lucy´s lunch and not any of the other maids.

"Lucy-sama!"

Lucy turned to the source of the voice and saw ms. Spetto coming towards her.

"Is it very important, ms. Spetto, or can we take it later?"

"It´s important. I´ve been carrying this with me since the day it arrived, waiting for you to figure out what you needed to figure out so I could deliver it to you."

In her hand, ms. Spetto held a letter. One of those letters.

_I thought I had been told of all the people I used to be close to?_

Lucy received the letter and was torn between telling her decision to her father before she read it, or read the letter right away.

"Thank you, ms. Spetto", Lucy said and ms. Spetto nodded before she left Lucy alone.

In the end, Lucy´s curiosity got the better of her and she returned to her room to read the letter. She fiddled her finger in under the tab and opened it. She pulled out the letter and unfolded the paper.

**…**

_Dear Lucy,_

_This is my last letter to you. I´ve now come to the letter that´s about me. I´ll hope you´ll remember something when you read this._

_I´m Natsu, a fire Dragon Slayer and we were partners in missions. I´m pretty much everything you´re not, I´m loud, obnoxious (at least, people told me I am sometimes), annoyin (something I´ve been calles as well), impatient, slow when I think… but we complete each other._

_I told you how we met, but I haven´t told you about what I was doing before that. As long as I can remember, my father fostered me when I grew up, until 7 june year x777. Then he disappeared, together with the other dragons. After I was left gramps, the Master of Fairy Tail, found me._

_My childhood there was pretty much the same, I grew up and fought a lot with Gray, and Erza stopped us. But Lisanna never "died" since I stopped her from going on the mission with her siblings, I think I told you that before. That´s the only thing that´s different in this world._

_It was strange going to Hargeon and never meeting you. I was expecting you to show up, but you never did. You never gave me any lunch and I didn´t save you from Bora - we never fought it out with Phantom Lord either since you never joined and they´re still a guild._

_Zeref never showed up a the S-Class Trial, so we never got frozen in time. I´m a S-class Mage now, but you don´t have to worry about Cana – like I´ve told you, no matter what she said she didn´t quit. But she didn´t tell Gildarts that he´s her father, I don´t know if she´ll ever be able to tell him..._

_It´s strange that nothing of this happened, just because the two of us traveled in time. But what´s even more strange is the knowledge that I´ll never see you again._

_It pains me to think about your beautiful face. It´s like something breaks in my chest every time I think of your smile. I hear your laugh whenever it´s quiet around me or you caling my name. I see your eyes whenever I close my own. I dream about you every night, and it all hurts like hell.  
But the thought of forgetting you hurts even more, so that´s why I bear the pain of remembering you. I don´t want to lose you again._

_But I will and you´ll forget me too, because we never met in this life. My memory of all we did together has already started to falter.  
I love you. I don´t think I´ll ever love anyone but you. I will miss you even though I won´t remember you. But I will always love you Lucy._

_With love - Natsu_


	12. The promise

_I love you. I don´t think I´ll ever love anyone but you. I will miss you even though I won´t remember you. But I will always love you Lucy._

_With love - Natsu_

* * *

**I´m sorry for the long wait guys! But I still have no computer. Lucky I was home from school yesterday so I had time to finsih this chapter, and then simply post it today. I apologize for all mistakes, but I haven´t been able to write this in my normal program with spellcheck, so it has only been me proof-reading this.**

**Enough from me, go ahead and read now. Enjoy!^-^**

* * *

The tears that pricked the letter and smudged the text was something she hadn´t time to bother with. She didn´t even notice it. All she could feel was the tearing pain in her chest, the result of her heart being ripped and crushed into millions of pieces all over again. She thought it had hurt bad when she decided that she would never meet them again, when she decided to take care of her family and marry Charles. But right now, that decision felt like a lifetime ago. The pain then was _nothing _compared to the pain she felt right now. Then, she hadn´t known who it was she left behind, but now when she knew it hurt worse than hell.

She had just remembered him, and now she was going to forget everything about him again. Her idiotic best friend Natsu whom she loved more than anything. Everything about him, his dark eyes that could be dangerous with a fire burning in them, telling anyone that to try and hurt his friends was the most stupid decision they´d ever make, the eyes that could also have that mischevious gleam in them, saying that he would mess with her but only in a way that would make her laugh evetually. They could be so friendly and caring, passionate and fierce whenever in a battle, full of laughter and jokes... and that grin, the grin that had to be the brightest grin ever seen in this world and any other world as well. That grin that could make her laugh any day, that could turn her mood around completely. The pink hair and that white-scaled scarf he never took off. All big and small things about him, she remembered and loved them all.  
Even his idiotic motionsickness, the only weakness he had. It was so stupid, yet it was so adorable, and the fact that it was a part of him only made him even more lovable.

"I´ve just remembered you and now you say I´ll forget you?!"

She had never felt a pain this great, never cried this much, not even when she believed her mother was going to die. That time, it had only been her beliefs, but this time, this time she knew it was happening and she knew he was right. She was going to forget everything about him.

But her love for him would never disappear. She had never escaped the feeling of love she had towards him, even though she didn´t remember him, she had missed him and she had had the feeling of something not being right, of something missing, of something being off... of him not being around... of the love towards him...  
She had never not not felt it. It had been there under the surface all along, she realized that when she looked back on it now.

_I'll always love you too, Natsu, I'll never love anyone but you. I'll miss you so much, and no one nor nothing can ever replace you, even if I won't remember you._

The tears did stop eventually, but not the pain in her. Even after she had stopped crying, she just sat on her bed, staring into nothing, remembering the good times she had with Natsu in her past life.

When they first met in Hargeon. She had been so pissed after not getting as much discount as she had hoped, and then she heard a famous mage was in the town. Of course she wanted to check it out, and she had no idea she was really looking at a fake and that it was the real thing that saved her.

When he had first brought her to Fairy Tail, and she remembered that he got her name wrong, which had her hurt her feelings. He brought her there, and then he forgot her name? He sure was an idiot.

Their first mission. He tricked her into forming a team with him.

_Even if he was an idiot, he was really smart at times._

The first mission with Erza and Gray as well. She had amired them all so much, but she hadn´t imagined that they would become her closest friends when she first met them.

The fight against Phantom Lord. He caught her when she jumped from that tower.

The Grand Magic Games. When she lost against the cheating Flare, Natsu had been there. When Minerva abused her, Natsu had been there as well. When she was hurt and he was going to fight in the tag battle, he visited her before leaving. She knew he would win that time, he always won whenever it really mattered.  
When she was arrested, he came to save her.

_He always saved me. Always. No matter where I was, and no matter how far away he was from me. He always came for me when I needed him the most._

Why hadn´t he come this time?

_Why am I sitting around wasting my time? This time, he needs me to come for him!_

This thought finally got her out of her bottomless pit. She finally reached ground and she found a way out of the pit. She only needed to extend her hand and grab her way out of there.

Lucy rose from the bed, and quickly found a bag.

_I need this, and this... this looks pretty normal doesn´t it, I can wear this. Where´s the money I put away?_

She frantically searched for all the things she needed. Eventually, she had filled about half the bag, but she figured it was enough. She opened the door to her room and almost collided with Layla.

"Lucy!"

"Mama?"

"Oh, thank the Zodiacs, I found you in time."

"In time for what?"

"You haven´t spoken with your father yet, right? Ms. Spetto said you left for your room a while ago, but I´m so glad I found you before... what are you wearing? And why are you holding that bag?"

"I´m breaking my promise."

Layla´s eyes widened in surprise and confusion.

"I know who he is now."

Layla smiled softly. "Then what are you waiting for? Go find him."

"I´m sorry for breaking..."

"We don´t care Lucy. When will you realize that? We only wish you to be happy."

"I have to apologize to Papa before..."

"He´ll understand", Layla interupted. "I´ll explain it to him. Go to ms. Spetto and say ´astérion´. She´ll know what to do."

Lucy nodded and ran off down the stairs. The bag struck against her thigh as she ran and her heart pounded against her ribcage. But it wasn´t a bad pounding, her heart was pounding out of excitment.

"Lucy-sama, what´s the rush?" ms. Spetto asked as Lucy arrived in front of her.

"Astérion", Lucy huffed out and ms. Spetto widened her eyes before nodding. She called out to a maid nearby. "Li, get the red bag."

Li nodded and scurried off.

"Come with me, Lucy-sama."

Ms. Spetto led the way out of the house and to a guard.

"Astérion", she simply told him and he nodded and hurried off.

_What does that word mean to everyone?_

Ms. Spetto turned to Lucy and smiled at her. "Come back and visit again, Lucy-sama."

"Ms. Spetto, this isn´t good-bye. You´re all my family. And I wouldn´t ever abandon my family."

Ms. Spetto smiled and then she hugged Lucy.

"You´ve grown up so much Lucy-sama. We´re all so proud of you."

A carriage pulled up next to them.

"It´s time for you to leave now, Lucy-sama. The red bag in there is yours."

"I´ll come back, ms. Spetto. I promise. Tell Mama and Papa that too. And... thank you. Thank you all."

Lucy got into the carriage and as soon as she sat down the carriage set off. Lucy looked out the window as they went, faster than she ever had travelled with carriage.

_Now what?_

She realize she hadn´t thought anything through enough. Where was she going to go? She only knew the name of the guild, but she had no idea where it was. And Fiore was big. There were a lot of towns and places the guild could be.

The carriage stopped and Lucy looked out the window, realizing she alreay was at the train station. The door to the carriage opened and the driver was holding out his hand to help her out. But Lucy shook her head - she was going to do this on her own. She was going to stop depending on others. She put the red bag in her own bag and climbed out the carriage as graceful as ever. She then thanked the driver and went towards the station.

"Sorcerer Magazine! Get the latest number here!"

Lucy looked towards the voice.

_Sorcerer Magazine?_

That sounded promising. She went over to the young woman selling the magazine and bought one. She opened it right on spot and quickly skimmed through the pages until she found what she was looking for.

"One ticket to Magnolia, please", she said as she offered her money to the man behind the desk as she bought her ticket.

_I´m going to find you Natsu._

* * *

**Here it is people! So, Lucy is _finally _heading to Magnolia to find Natsu. I´m both sad and happy to announce that we´re nearing the end of this story. But don´t worry! There should at least be two more chapters left in store for you.**

**Leave a review and let me know what you think, will ya´? :)**


	13. Back in Magnolia, for the first time

_"One ticket to Magnolia, please", she said as she offered her money to the man behind the desk as she bought her ticket._

_I´m going to find you Natsu._

**I´m back my dear readers! And I have computer now, which means I have somewhere to write and hopefully it also means; I´ll be able to update easier ^-^.  
I´m so sorry for the late update guys, I had a hard time completing this chapter and I´ve been rather busy lately too. Sorry.**

**By the way, have anyone else read the latest chapter in the manga? I did not see that coming :0 and I just imagine how things will escalate from now on… I can´t wait for this arc to come to the anime so the ones who only watch the anime get to see it. Tartaros Arc is probably the best arc so far, or at least it´s highly ranked… it´s gonna be so awesome to see in the anime later ^^**

**Sorry for this rant, please go ahead and read now :P**

"Next stop Magnolia", the voice called out through the speakers.

Lucy remembered the voice, remembered hearing those words being said before. She looked out through the window, taking in the familiar scenery of the town she now knew she loved. Stepping out of the train, she took in the familiar the sight of people rushing to catch their trains, the sound of stressing steps and voices calling for their travelling comrades to hurry, and the smell of the trains´ engines, sweat from the running people and the smell of old, warm air.

"Excuse me", she turned to one of the workers at the platform. "Could you tell me the way to Fairy Tail?"

"Oh no, don´t go there ms. Why would a pretty lady like you want to go to a rowdy place like that?" the man was about to go, but Lucy was quick to stop him.

"Please! I have friends there I´m to visit."

"You´re friends with the faeries ey", he said with a change of attitude. He gave her a suspicious look, and Lucy remembered Fairy Tail had a rumor of always destroying things. She simply had to remember the first time she met Natsu.

"I´m no mage of Fairy Tail", she said, trying to make him understand that she wasn´t going to destroy the train station. "I´m no mage at all, actually. But I have important business there."

The man´s tensed stance loosened up. "It´s really easy to find, just follow the central path. If you get lost, just ask anyone for direction. Everybody knows where Fairy Tail lays. If you´ve been there before, I´m sure you´ll recognize it."

"Alright, thank you", she smiled at the man before turning and taking her leave.

"Just be careful ms!"

"Yes!" she smiled to the man over her shoulder and waved her hand. "Thank you!"

Leaving the station, she went into the familiar yet unfamiliar town. It was one thing to remember the town, but seeing it again… it was completely something else. It almost brought tears to her eyes, as she remembered she had walked this path before with Natsu and her friends. She walked past a shop that sold steamed buns, and she remembered that one time when Natsu was so hungry he couldn´t wait, they had stopped there to buy him two. But when they got there, while they were waiting for the steam buns to be given to them, he ate the fire they had in there and the owner got really angry at them. Erza immediately apologized, saying something like; "I´m sorry this unforgivable action was done towards you and I´ll take care of this man´s punishment personally".  
Then they had left, without lightening the fire again.

Remembering this, Lucy was filled with laughter. Ignoring the strange looks people gave her, she tried to swallow the laughter that bubbled up her throat. She had to wait several minutes until she had suppressed it and could continue up the road to find the guild.

She wondered how it would look, the guild hall. If it would look like she remembered it or if it would be different. Would it look like it did before Phantom? Most likely.  
Anticipation swelled in her chest as she walked up the road. She would see her friends again! Cana drinking and teasing her, Mira kindly smiling behind the bar and serving anyone with the same smile on her lips, the smile never faltering from there. Gray getting into fights with Natsu, Erza eating her strawberry cake with a content face, Happy flying around being over all annoying or trying to give Carla a fish, Levy reading her books with her two partners hanging around her like love-sick puppies.

But she wouldn´t get to see Juvia, staring at Gray from behind pillars, or trying to gather her courage to approach him to let him know about her feelings. She wouldn´t see Gajeel sitting in the back with Lily, pretending like he doesn't care about anything, but secretly keeping an eye on Levy.

It was a bittersweet feeling, knowing she would see her old guildmates but not all of them. She wondered how much would be different, how many of them that would be different from the way she remembered them.

_There´s really only one way to find out._

To her surprise, she looked up to see the guild just a couple of meters in front of her and she inhaled sharply. Tears threatened at the brim of her eyes as she looked upon the two-storied building. The first guild hall.

She took three deep breaths before she went to the door. Placing her hand on the door, she allowed herself to think one thing before pushing it open.

_I might see him now._

As the door she pushed drifted open slowly, the sound of fighting members reaches her.

"It´s not manly to throw a chair at nee-san!"

The inside, with the fighting members, were so familiar it made her sigh in relief.

_Maybe some things never change after all._

Walking into the guild, she set her aim for Mirajane, standing by the bar, watching over the scene of fighting mages. Mirajane noticing Lucy´s presence wided her eyes in surprise, seeing someone who´s not part of the guild so calm in there.

"Don´t worry, Erza will stop them soon", Mira reassured Lucy.

Lucy looked out into the sea of fighting men and was just in time to see someone knock Erza´s table over. Her cake hit the floor.

_Well, that´s it then._

Knowing the fight would be over in seconds now, Lucy turned to Mira whom smiled kindly towards her.

"What can I do for you?" Mirajane said with the kind smile on her lips, as always.

"I´m looking for Natsu Dragneel."

Mirajane frowned slightly. "Then you might have to wait for a while."

"Where is he?" Lucy asked as she frowned. What if something had happened to him?

Mira smiled. "Don´t look so worried, he´s fine. He´s just out on missions right now, and he picked six S-class missions this time I think, so he might be gone for a while."

"Well, then I´ll just wait here", Lucy said promptly and sat down by the bar.

Mirajane smiled at her. "I´m not sure you want to stay here, it can get quite rowdy."

Lucy smiled. "I noticed, but it doesn´t matter."

"I´m Mira", the barmaid said and offered her hand to Lucy.

Lucy took her hand. "Lucy."

"Nice to meet you Lucy", the smile was there as always. Lucy couldn´t help but wonder how she could smile that much, didn´t it hurt in her cheeks? "How do you know Natsu, Lucy?"

"He´s an old friend."

"Really? I didn´t know Natsu had friends outside of this guild. How did you two meet?"

"A mission, a while back. In Hargeon, he was looking for his father."

"I see", Mira said this and her smile faltered just slightly, out of sympathy for Natsu Lucy guessed. "How come you met? You´re no mage. I don´t mean it like that!" she quickly added. "I´m just curious, it´s not really common that a mage become friends with a none-mage on a mission like that."

"I bought him lunch", Lucy said as she smiled. "Since he saved me from a love-charm."

Mira chuckled. "No wonder your friends, anyone who gives Natsu food will be considered a friend I believe."

Lucy giggled. "That sure is true."

Mira smiled at her before receiving an order and leaving Lucy to be alone for a moment.

"Oi, what do we have here?" Lucy turned to see the familiar image of Cana sitting on top of the bar, legs crossed and with a barrel next to her. "What are you doing here?"

Nothing in Cana´s voice was unfriendly, even though her words could have seemed so. She told Cana the same she had told Mirajane just before.

Talking with Cana remembered Lucy of her old life at Fairy Tail, when she was a member too. It made her happy talk to her old friend, even if Cana didn´t know she was a friend of Lucy. After a while, Mira approached the two talking girls.

"Lucy, where are you staying the night?"

"I don´t know", Lucy admitted.

Mirajane shook her head in disapproval. "Honestly, you have to take care of that first. It´s getting late, you better head off and find someplace."

Lucy nodded and rose. "You´re right. I´ll go right away."

"If you don´t find anything, Fairy Hills has free rooms", Mirajane said. "It´s not cheap, but… just swing by here again if you don´t find anything below 100 jewels per month."

Lucy nodded. "I will."

"Nice to meet you Lucy, come back sometimes will you!" Cana called out louder than necessary.

"I´ll be back tomorrow", Lucy giggled and waved to the two girls before taking her leave.

She knew where she was going to head, and she remembered that it wasn´t expensive.

Finding her old apartment at Strawberry Street, Lucy was happy to find out that it was open for renting. The landlady was exactly the same too, which actually made Lucy relieved. The more that stayed the same as in her old life, the better.

Dropping her bag on the floor, she lay down on the bed and closed her eyes.

_I´ll wait for you to return Natsu. No matter how long I´ll have to wait. I´ve already rented this apartment for a month, after all._

**Well, that´s it for now. Yes, yes, I get it, you hate me for having Natsu out on missions. You wanted him to be there right away so they could meet again.**

**Trust me, I get it.**

**I´ll see you guys as soon as possible, I´ll just need to write next chapter and the I´ll be back with an update. **

**And I apologize for all errors, I didn´t proof read this chapter. I´m way too tired for that. I´ve had cup all weekend, so I´m exhausted. That´s why the update is a bit late too.**


	14. Old friends

_I´ll wait for you to return Natsu. No matter how long I´ll have to wait. I´ve already rented this apartment for a month, after all._

* * *

The following week Lucy visited the guild every day from the morning to the night. She got to know all of her old friends again, and even though they were a bit different, they were still the same people she once had known and considered her family.

She hadn´t had so much fun in all her 18 years, not in this life at least. The days she now spent in the guild was a bit like how it had been before, but not as fun. Natsu wasn´t there after all, and no one had made her laugh as much as he had. She missed him so much.

She sighed to herself and moved the ice-cubes in her glass around with her straw.

"Something wrong, Lu-chan?" the petite blue haired woman sat down next to Lucy.

"Not really", she answered and smiled at her friend. "I´m just wishing Natsu could hurry back."

Levy nodded. "Are you going back when you´ve met him?"

Lucy was surprised by the question.

_Will I be going back?_

"It depends", Lucy answered after a moment of silence.

"Depends on what? I´m sorry if I´m snoopy, I just…"

Lucy laughed. "It´s fine, don´t worry about it. I know that you just worry about me, Levy-chan." Lucy sighed quietly. "It depends on what his reaction to me being here will be."

"What do you mean?" Levy frowned.

Lucy smiled slightly. "You´ll have to wait, Levy-chan. I don´t know anything for sure my self yet."

Levy nodded understandingly and then changed the subject, talking about a really good book she read recently. Lucy only listened on one ear, thinking about how Fairy Tail had looked in her former life compared to now.  
Being back in Fairy Tail was pleasant indeed. She loved to spend time with all her friends again, but she missed her parents and the servants at home. She wondered how her mother was doing now.  
Thinking back to her other life, she thought about how she came to join Fairy Tail. Her mother had died and her father had been neglecting her, not caring for her at all.

_Mama…_

She couldn´t imagine a world without Layla, and not without Jude either. But she knew she had lived in it once.  
She couldn´t imagine a world without Loke either, he had been a dear friend to her after all. But she knew that she could be living in a world like that at the moment. She wished she could ask someone about him, if he´d been in Fairy Tail, but she knew she had to wait for Natsu to return.

_I miss Plue. He had been able to cheer me up by now._

It was lonely, as it was now, without her spirits hanging by her hip and without having Plue out so she had someone to talk to. She let out a sigh.

_It´s strange how things can change…_

That was the last thought she had before falling asleep.

…

Waking up the next morning, Lucy opened her eyes to an unfamiliar ceiling. Sitting up in the bed that wasn´t hers, she looked around in the room that she´d never seen before.

_That´s right. I´m in Magnolia, I´m not home._

Lucy shook her head. Was she starting to forget about Natsu now?

"Hurry back Natsu", she whispered to herself as she rose.

She went over to the desk in the room and brought forward a piece of paper that she put on the desk. Sitting down in the chair, she brought forward a pencil and wrote where she was, why she was there and who Natsu was.

_I better read this every night so I won´t forget._

Leaving the paper and the pen on the desk, she rose to get dressed and headed to the guild. On the way she thought about Natsu as much as she could.

_Natsu never went through my door, always the window. We used to walk on these streets together. He almost fell down into the canal once, but Happy and I saved him. He never opened the guild doors like a regular person, always kicking them in and screaming: "we´re back!"_

That habit of him was securing, because she knew that if he did like that then she couldn´t miss when he came. But then she realized that since things had changed, and he had matured some… maybe he didn´t do that anymore?

"Good morning Lucy", Mira smiled at her from behind the bar.

"Morning Mira", Lucy smiled back. "Natsu´s not back yet, is he?"

Mira shook her head. "No, not yet."

Lucy giggled. "Well, I can´t possible imagine him coming early like this. It has to be passed lunch before he arrives."

Mira giggled as well. "Couldn´t have said it better myself."

Lucy smiled and then she sat silent for a moment.

"What´s wrong Lucy?"

"Well…"

"Tell me when you´re eating something, will you?" Mira smiled and then disappeared to fetch Lucy something to eat.

"Morning Lucy", Lisanna sat down next to her by the bar.

"Lisanna, good morning", Lucy smiled at the white-haired girl.

Lisanna smiled back. "What´s up?"

"Nothing much, just waiting for Natsu to get back", Lucy made a face when she said that which got Lisanna to laugh.

"I know what you mean. He´s always gone way to long, that moron", she giggled. "But that´s what makes me forgive his return."

"What do you mean?" Lucy asked curious.

"Well", Lisanna changed her position a bit, crossing her legs and leaning over the table, "he always makes such a big scene, almost kicking the door of its hinges and starting a fight."

Lucy giggled. "I can imagine that happening."

Lisanna laughed at her words. "You sure can, right?"

Lucy laughed too and when the two of them quieted down, there was a moment of silent before Lisanna spoke.

"How well do you know Natsu, Lucy?"

"Pretty well I guess… but I think you know him better. You have known him for a long time after all."

"Yeah, but sometimes I just get this feeling that he´s really far away", Lisanna said and sighed. "He´s my best friend, and the one who knows him best of us in the guild is probably me… but I think there´s a side to him that I don´t know. That side that disappears, I suppose. I was thinking… maybe you´ve seen it?"

Lucy shrugged. "I don´t know… I haven´t seen him in a long time…"

Lisanna nodded and once again the silent filled the air before Lisanna broke it. "Did you know he wrote? I don´t know what he wrote, but I saw him sitting around the guild a couple of weeks ago, writing something on a piece of paper. But he was really making sure that no one saw what he wrote. Not even me. He didn´t even tell me what he wrote."

Lucy was silently watching Lisanna´s upset face. She gathered her courage and asked her the question that was bouncing around in her head.

"Do you have… those kind of feelings for him, for Natsu?"

Lisanna looked up at Lucy with widened eyes. And then she started to laugh. "What are you thinking? Of course not crazy! He´s like a brother to me!"

"Are you sure?" Lucy asked, trying to hide her relief.

"Of course!" she was interrupted by some more laughter. "How could I feel like that for him? He´s such a baby compared too…"

She suddenly interrupted herself, making Lucy give her a suspicious look.

"Wait a minute… do you have someone else?"

"What?!" Lisanna started to laugh. "Are you crazy for real Lucy? Of course not."

_Something´s off with that laugh, she´s definitely hiding something!_

"You have, haven´t you? Tell me! Who is it!"

"It´s no one!"

"Lis!"

"Lucy!" she mimicked using the same tone of voice.

"Seriously! Tell me!"

"Sch, keep it down!" Lisanna said. "There isn´t anyone _yet_."

"But there is someone?"

"I´ll tell you if you´re not leaving us", Lisanna answered and then rose up strutting away in a mocking way. She looked back at Lucy over the shoulder and blinked before she turned forward and ran away.

"Lis!" Lucy muttered and were just about to follow when Mira came back with Lucy´s breakfast.

"You look much better already", Mira smiled and put down the plate in front of Lucy.

"Thanks Mira", Lucy smiled at the woman who brought her the food.

_Natsu would have liked this, it´s rather spicy. But of course, he would want even more spice, or rather having pure fire._

Lucy smiled at herself thinking about him. He sure was an idiot.

…

"Someone´s lovesick."

"You think so too, Mira-nee?"

"She couldn´t be more obvious about it!" Mira said as she giggled and Lisanna nodded in agreement.

The two Strauss siblings where standing by the other side of the bar, watching the blonde smile to herself.

"Natsu better hurry back, or he´ll miss the best thing that´s ever happened to him", Lisanna said as she sighed and Mirajane nodded in agreement.

* * *

**I´m so sorry it took me so long to update! I really am! But to make it up to you I will post the following chapter really soon, like tomorrow maybe? I had to write both chapters to be able to post this chapter you see.**

**But that´s enough from me, let me know what you think of this chapter, will ya? Is it too slow and boring? This is future preferences for me after all ^-^**

**Oh, and sorry but I didn´t proof read this. I´m lying in bed half asleep - don´t judge me for not having energy to do it :P**


	15. Good bye

"_Natsu better hurry back, or he´ll miss the best thing that´s ever happened to him", Lisanna said as she sighed and Mirajane nodded in agreement._

_What´s going on? Have I´ve been kidnapped?!_

* * *

Lucy slowly starting to panic, breathed deeply to calm herself down. She rose from the bed and decided to take a look around the room, finding that she was in an apartment. She tried to come up with any clue to why she was where she was.

_What was I doing yesterday?_

She tried really hard to remember, but it was like a big blur. She had left her parents to… to do something. And she had rode the train to this town… Magnolia? Yes, that sounded about right. And she had rented an apartment. That was where she was, in the apartment she had rented.

_But why am I here? I better go home; Mama and Papa are probably really worried about me._

Lucy got up from her bed and put on some clothes she found in a drawer; a cute yet simple strapless top in white and a black skirt with white lacing. Getting the feeling she would be a little cold around her legs, she also pulled on a pair of white knee-socks. Packing all her things she then left the apartment heading for the train-station to go home.

…

As the door to the guild opened, the two Strauss siblings turned to it, hoping Lucy _finally _would show up. Said woman was always early, but it was already past noon and they hadn´t seen her. But when the familiar voice rang out and the sun wasn´t blinding them anymore, their eyes widened in surprise.

"WE´RE BACK!"

"NATSU!" Lisanna called out and waved to him frantically.

"Yo, what´s up LIs?" Natsu asked cheerfully as he approached the bar where the girls where standing.

Lisanna gave Mirajane a look, telling her to tell him about Lucy already.

"Natsu, while you were gone this blonde girl came looking for you", Mira said. "She´s named Lucy and has been here every day since she showed up, but she´s gone today."

Mirajane looked up from drying a cup to find the pink-haired man missing.

"He went as soon as you said ´blonde girl´", Lisanna informed, looking toward the door.

"He better go find her now", Mirajane said.

"He will."

"Time for bets everybody!" Cana´s voice rang through the guild and Mirajane chuckled.

"Some things never change", Lisanna sighed and then giggled.

…

_This should be the right direction, right? This is where he pointed… but it doesn´t feel like I´m going in the right direction…_

Lucy continued down the path. She was in some park, and big trees shadowed her from the bright sun and stopped her from being over-heated. She walked in a quick pace, hoping to catch the earliest train she could. She didn´t want to be in an unfamiliar place like Magnolia – who knew what kind of crazy people lived there.

Lucy was passed by someone, a running person who ran past her. But something about that persons face had burnt itself into her brain, even though she had just seen it in a quick, blurry second. Lucy turned herself around, finding herself staring at the boy. The pink-haired boy stared at her as well.

"Lucy…" he whispered and the next second she was enveloped in his embrace.

"Natsu!" she whispered with tears in her eyes and hugged him back hard enough to break metal.

"I can´t believe it´s you…"

"Natsu…"

They stood like that for several minutes, just holding each other close.

"Natsu, I´ve missed you so much."

"I never thought I would see you again…"

"You idiot!" she suddenly slapped his back and in surprise, he loosened his grip a bit to look at her. "You knew where I lived, why didn´t you come there instead of just sending me your letters?!"

Natsu blinked and stayed silent for a moment before he answered. "I… didn't know for sure if you´d be there… I wrote that to you…?"

"But you could have checked!" Lucy was silent, still with tears streaming down her face. This time it was tears of sadness, however. "I forgot about you…"

Natsu stroke her tears away. "But you remembered me again."

She hugged him tightly. "I´ll never forget about you ever again!"

Natsu hugged her back, as if he´d never let her go. "I´ll never give you the chance."

"You better not", she sobbed. "Because I love you too."

Natsu then did something that Lucy hadn´t expected from him. It was nothing like the old dense Natsu, after all. She never gave him enough credit…  
He let her go enough to see her face, and gently placing his hand on her cheek, he kissed her softly. Lucy, having no experience in kissing, felt both clumsy and embarrassed, but a blooming flower of happiness, love and greed grew inside her, burning the other feelings away.

_These lips are mine only._

So when Natsu let her lips go, she kissed him again. Twirling her fingers into his surprisingly soft hair, she experienced something she had read about a thousand times but never even been close to experiencing.

_..._

_A love so strong it lasted through times,_

_No matter what people think about the idea,_

_That was what those two had._

_A love stronger than fate,_

_Stronger than destiny,_

_Stronger than time itself,_

_Exceling not life times – but different dimensions._

* * *

**The final chapter people. I hope you liked it, I have waited so long to write this. There are parts I wanted to have in as well, but they just didn´t fit in… and unfortunately I probably won´t get it into the epilogue either. And Í´m sorry it´s so short...**

**Yes, I will have an epilogue, so this isn´t quite the ending. But the epilogue won´t be told from their perspective and it will be short. It´ll focus on more than just our main couple, but it will tell a bit more detailed about people whose only been mentioned. I just realized I never had Erza made an appearance (just mentioned her). Huh, can´t believe I forgot about her…**

**Anyways; I just want to thank you all for reading, reviewing, following and favoriting this story, I´m grateful to all of you!**


	16. Coming out

_So when Natsu let her lips go, she kissed him again. Twirling her fingers into his surprisingly soft hair, she experienced something she had read about a thousand times but never even been close to experiencing._

* * *

**Hello guys! This isn´t the epilogue, but Lindzii and TheCaptainOfShips asked for a chapter with the guild´s reactions, so that´s what I´ll give you now. I couldn´t stop myself from writing this.**

* * *

"Just try it, okay? It´s fun, I promise."

"Oh, fine", Lucy sighed and as Natsu kicked the door open like he always did, Lucy screamed with all her lungs might: "WE´RE BACK!"

Closing her eyes when screaming, she had them opened in time to see the guild members reactions; Erza dropped her fork with her cake on, Gray stopped with his shirt half-taken off, Elfman jumped in surprise and grabbed the closest thing near to him which happened to be Evergreen, Evergreen then hit him so that he ended up on the floor. Mirajane dropped her tray, Lisanna stopped with her hand in mid-air and mouth open, revealing that she had been right in the middle of telling her sister something. Similar reactions were seen all over the guild, the only one who didn´t react was Levy. She seemed to be in the middle of a sentence in her book, unaware (or maybe she was simply ignoring it) of the noise around the guild. Finishing her page, Levy closed her book and looked up. If it hadn´t been a precious book, she would have dropped it, but now she was sitting frozen and staring at the couple by the door.

Natsu laughed like a maniac, fire being seen in his mouth making him look a bit like a demon. Lucy remembered having seen it before. But he didn´t look like a demon to her, and she could not help but to giggle a little as she watched him.

"Come on, Lucy", he said and pulled her along. "I´m hungry."

Lucy rolled her eyes. "You´re always hungry."

He simply shrugged as an answer. Lucy felt the whole guild stare at them as they walked towards the bar and she was starting to feel rather uncomfortable. No one moved other than them.

That was until someone in the back yelled: "Natsu´s holding hands with someone?!"

And suddenly, it was as if time started moving again. Mirajane and Lisanna squealed, Cana laughed and said something inappropriate making a lot of the guild members laugh as well, Levy stood up from her spot, coming to talk with Lucy and Erza did the same, though she seemed to be aiming for Natsu. And the two of them weren´t the only ones, more and more members circled them.

"Explain", Erza said.

"Lu-chan, what happened?"

"He went after her!" squealed one of the Strauss´.

"He caught up in her in time!" the other Strauss sister continued.

Many more comments were thrown at them, but no one was giving them a chance to answer. Natsu suddenly jumped up on the bar and then pulled up Lucy to stand next to him.

"Everybody shut up!" Surprisingly, they actually did. "Lucy´s my girlfriend so everybody – keep your hands off!"

Everyone was staring at them in shock, making Lucy blush slightly from all the attention. The silence was broken by an unexpected source, however.

Erza broke it. By squealing.

Now everyone was staring at the redhead. She, however, pretended like nothing, stepping up next to the pair and banged both their heads into her bust in an affectionate hug.

"Congratulations."

And now the congratulations were raining down. Everyone seemed to be happy for the couple. The second they stepped down, Levy hugged Lucy tightly. She hadn´t expected so much power from such a little person.

"I´m so happy for you Lucy! And this means you´re going to stay, right?"

Lucy chuckled. "Yes. I won´t leave. Ever."

"You´re a true man Natsu!" Elfman´s voice brokw off whatever Levy had been planning to reply. Lucy looked over at the big man to see him cry as he pounded Natsu in the back as a way to say congratulations. "A true man."

_I´m not sure whether I´m happy or not that he still uses that expression all the time…_

"Never expected you to score a girl like that, flamebrain."

"What did you say?!"

Lucy squeezed his hand and he looked over at her. She gave him a look telling him not to start a fight now, and he smiled at her as he put an arm around her, pulling her (and Levy) close to him.

"You´re right, stripper. I don´t get it either."

Lucy smiled and kissed him on the cheek. "I get it, it´s as clear as day."

Natsu raised his eyebrows but before he had a chance to say anything, squealing got in the way.

"Scoot over Levy!" Mirajane said as she hugged Lucy.

"Move, Fullbuster!" and Lisanna came on the other side, giving her best friend a hug.

"You guys better tell us everything!" they said with one mouth.

Lucy and Natsu looked at each other before they gave out a short laugh.

"Later", Natsu said.

"We have a lot of catching up to do", Lucy continued as she smiled at Natsu affectionately.

"Aye", Happy said as he dropped down on Lucy´s head. Lucy had asked Natsu about Happy when the two of them were walking back to the guild and apparently, Natsu had told Happy about everything, leading to Happy practically knowing Lucy already. "And we need fish too!"

But she knew him too. Lucy chuckled and so did most of the guild members. Reluctantly, Levy, Mirajane and Lisanna let go of their friends and the couple walked out of the guild hand in hand with the burning eyes of the guild members following them.

"Let´s go home", Natsu said as he pulled Lucy along.

"Oh no, we´re not going to your place. It´s way too messy, don´t think I´ve forgotten. We´ll pick up some fish for Happy and then go to my place."

"_Your_ place?" Natsu asked. "Your old apartment?"

Lucy nodded and leaned closer to Natsu as she said: "With the most comfortable bed."

Natsu looked at her and she saw something she never had seen before in those onyx eyes. Suddenly Lucy realized the sexual implication in her voice and she blushed madly.

"I didn´t mean it like that!" she yelled in a high-pitched voice and flailed her arms around widely in panic.

Natsu laughed and caught her arms. He pulled her close and kissed her. Then he whispered in her ear: "I´ll remember you said that."

Lucy blushed deeper and looked down to the ground. "Just get going you pervert", she muttered and pulled him along by the hand. He just laughed.

After getting some fish for Happy, the trio headed to Lucy´s apartment. Settling the cat by the table in the kitchen with his fish, Lucy and Natsu went to sit in Lucy´s couch.

"Natsu, I just have to ask you about this", Lucy started, uncertain if she really wanted to know. "Loke?"

Natsu´s face turned a bit grim. "He never joined the guild."

"And Karen? Is she alive?"

Natsu shook his head and Lucy felt tears rise in her eyes. Natsu pulled her close.

"That doesn´t mean anything, Lucy. Maybe she never had him as a spirit."

Lucy nodded, but sobs escaped from her. Natsu rocked her gently, stroking her hair and humming calmingly. He was trying to comfort her and after a couple of minutes, her crying had stopped.

"We´ll check it out, okay?"

Lucy shook her head. "It doesn´t matter, we can´t do anything about it anyways…"

Natsu frowned and Lucy stroke away her tears. She pressed forward a smile. "Let´s talk about something else. I have to ask you about the nickname you gave me in some of your letters."

Natsu laughed sheepishly. "Oh. That. Well, I kinda… I don´t know. I thought I called you that…"

Lucy smiled at him. "I like it."

"Really?"

Lucy nodded. "It´s a nice nickname."

"Luce. Yeah, it is."

But the way he said it sent a shiver down her spine. He seemed so much more mature now than what she remembered him like.

"Lucy, Natsu! My fish is gone!" whining, Happy came flying into the room and landed between the two.

Lucy scratched him behind his ears. "I´ll better make us something to eat then, right?"

After the dinner, Lucy and Natsu sat on her bed telling each other about everything. They talked for hours, until they couldn´t keep their eyes open and beyond that. Being too late for Natsu and Happy to go home, they stayed the night. And being too tired to move, Natsu lied next to her in her bed as they continued to talk, until all their sentences became nonsense, being interrupted by their yawns. The last thing Lucy heard before she fell asleep was the voice of an old friend.

"_He´s fine, __old friend."_

Lucy smiled knowing her friend was safe and snuggled closer to Natsu´s warmth.

* * *

**There it is! And I got in the parts I wanted but couldn´t get in last chapter ^-^ so yes, Loke is alive if anyone wondered. The Spirit King remembered what Lucy had said in her other life. To him it´s the same life though, but it´s because the time is different in the Spirit Realm and, well, let´s face it. He´s kind of a god XD.**

**So this is the last chapter, and then there will be the epilogue. NO ONE IS ALLOWED TO TEMPT ME TO DO ANOTHER CHAPTER!  
Sorry. But I really want to give you guys a closure to this AND maybe do other writing. I have some ideas so I´ll just have to decide what todo next. I´m thinking of A-Z One shots, but I´m not sure… :P**

**Sorry for this being a kinda crappy chapter... I don´t know why I wrote it like this, it´s all rushy and not so well-written... not compared to my former chapters at least. But I hope it´s fine anyways.**

**See you guys when the epilouge´s being posted ^-^**


End file.
